Video: Gunman shoots 13 dead and takes 40 hostage in New York rampage

Hundreds of children in a high school and patients in a nursing home just yards away from the centre were on ‘lockdown’ inside their buildings as police ‘SWAT’ team sharp-shooters surrounded the immigration centre.

Around 10 hostages were released out of the back door of the immigration centre two hours after the shooting started, draped in white sheets and clinging onto each other, shaking from the ordeal that was still unfolding last night in the town of Binghamton in upstate New York.

The gunman.  an Asian man in his twenties, was later found dead inside.

He had marched into the centre at 10.30am wearing a bright green nylon jacket and dark-rimmed glasses, and began shooting.

After parking his car at the rear of the centre, he walked inside armed with a high-powered rifle and began firing indiscriminately, according to Binghamton mayor Matthew Ryan.

Ambulances rushed to the centre and were able to rescue some of the victims, but four are known to have died after being rushed to local hospitals. One was a secretary who had been shot in the stomach.

Local reporters, citing police and other sources, said as many as 13 people had been killed and dozens had received gunshot wounds.

Witnesses reported that after the gunman began shooting people, others inside the building scattered in terror, some hiding in the basement, others crouching in cupboards hoping he would not spot them.

At the time that he burst into the centre, a group of immigrants were taking a citizenship exam that allows them to become American citizens.

Residents of local flats were evacuated but in the first hours of the stand-off, the authorities did not risk bringing hundreds of pupils out of the nearby high school onto the streets, and they were kept in their building and away from the windows.

A nursing home was also put on lockdown and police shut all the streets around the immigration centre.

As news of the shootings leaked out, families of those held hostage rushed to the immigration centre and waited anxiously behind police lines as a stand-off developed between marksmen and the gunman inside.

The incident occurred at a centre for the American Civic Association which works with immigrants and refugees who are being processed and settling in America. It runs counselling services, citizenship and language classes to help immigrants adapt to American society.

Binghamton is a town of around 47,000 people, 140 miles north-west of New York City on the state border with Pennsylvania.

It was unclear last night whether the gunman had any connection to the centre or had had trouble with his immigration process.

FBI negotiators were being despatched to the scene to try to establish his motive and persuade him to release the remaining hostages unharmed and give himself up.