Five people including a police officer and the suspected gunman were dead following a shooting Monday in central Manhattan, US media reported.”Four people, including a New York Police Department officer, were killed in today’s shooting in Midtown Manhattan,” a law enforcement source told broadcaster CNN, adding that the suspected gunman died from what is believed to be a “self-inflicted injury.”Mayor Eric Adams said on X an officer had been “struck down” and expressed his “deepest sympathies” to the family of the officer, although a department spokeswoman said she could neither confirm nor deny an officer had been killed. Police said the scene, around Park Avenue and East 51st Street, had been “contained and the lone shooter is dead,” without providing details about the identity of the suspect.”At this time, the scene has been contained and the lone shooter has been neutralized,” police commissioner Jessica Tisch wrote on X.Office worker Shad Sakib told AFP that he was packing his things to leave work when a public address announcement warned him and his colleagues to shelter in place.”Everyone was confused with like, ‘wait, what’s going on?’ And then someone finally realized that it’s online, that someone walked in with a machine gun,” said the witness who wore a grey suit jacket.”He walked right into a building right next door. We saw the photo of him walking through the same area that I walked through to get lunch here.”You would think it won’t happen to you, and then it does.”- ‘Floor by floor’ -Another witness, a woman who declined to give her name as she left the vicinity of the shooting, told AFP “I was in the building. He went floor by floor.” Witnesses told AFP the incident happened in an office block that is home to the Blackstone investment company.Police officers deployed a drone near Park Avenue at the height of the evening rush-hour as dozens of officers swarmed the area, some carrying long guns and others wearing ballistic vests.A number of ambulances had gathered in the vicinity and several helicopters hovered above the scene.Police repeatedly pushed back journalists and members of the public who gathered to see what was happening in the normally calm but busy area of Midtown Manhattan.The area is home to several five-star business hotels, as well as a number of corporate headquarters, including Colgate Palmolive and auditor KPMG.Earlier the mayor had told New Yorkers that “there is an active shooter investigation taking place in Midtown right now. Please take proper safety precautions if you are in vicinity and do not go outside if you are near Park Avenue and East 51st Street.”New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she has been briefed on the shooting.

US President Donald Trump on Monday issued Moscow with a dramatic new deadline to end the war in Ukraine or face tough new sanctions, as he met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland.Saying he was not very interested in talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin anymore, the US leader also shifted his tone on Gaza, acknowledging there were signs of “real starvation” in the conflict-ravaged Palestinian territory.Trump, sitting alongside Starmer at the US leader’s luxury golf resort in Turnberry, south of Glasgow, said he was “very disappointed” with Putin over continued strikes against Ukrainian civilian targets.He announced that he was reducing an earlier 50-day deadline set on July 14 for Putin to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end to “about 10 or 12 days”, starting immediately.”There is no reason in waiting,” Trump said, adding he thought Putin would want to end things quickly.”I really felt it was going to end. But every time I think it’s going to end he kills people.”I’m not so interested in talking (to him) anymore,” he added.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky swiftly praised the US president’s stand, thanking Trump for his “clear stance and expressed determination”.”Right on time, when a lot can change through strength for real peace. I thank President Trump for his focus on saving lives and stopping this horrible war,” Zelensky said on social media.The talks between Trump and Starmer focused on ending the suffering in Gaza and reviving stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.Trump announced the United States would set up walk-in “food centres” in Gaza, and said he believed a ceasefire was still possible.- Golf diplomacy -“We’re going to be getting some good strong food, we can save a lot of people. I mean, some of those kids — that’s real starvation stuff,” he said.Starmer, under domestic pressure to follow France’s lead and recognise a Palestinian state, called the situation unfolding in Gaza an “absolute catastrophe”.The pair also discussed the implementation of a UK-US trade deal that was signed on May 8 that lowered tariffs for certain UK exports but has yet to come into force.Trump hosted Starmer and his wife Victoria under tight security at Turnberry, where he had spent two days playing golf since landing in Scotland on Friday night for a five-day visit.They then flew by Air Force One to Prestwick, near Glasgow, where they boarded the helicopter Marine One to fly to Trump’s other golf resort in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, northeast Scotland, for a private dinner.Their talks came after the United States and the European Union reached a landmark deal to avert a full-blown trade war over tariffs, when EU chief Ursula von der Leyen visited Trump at the resort on Sunday.Trump hinted that he would not impose heavy tariffs on British pharmaceuticals.”We certainly feel a lot better with your country working on pharmaceuticals for America than some of the other countries,” he told Starmer.”With the relationship we have, you would not use that as a cudgel. You wouldn’t be using it as a block,” he added.Trump set out early in his second term to fulfil a decades-long desire of reshaping US trade with the world, with his administration predicting his aggressive strategy of punitive tariffs could bring “90 deals in 90 days.”After months with very little to show, he is now enjoying some success, landing accords with Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and, most importantly, the European Union.The deals are expected to kick in on August 1 to replace the current tariff regime these economies face, a White House spokesperson told AFP.The US president is due to open a new golf course at his Aberdeenshire resort on Tuesday, before heading back to the United States later in the day.

Police swarmed Midtown Manhattan on Monday as the mayor of New York City said there was “an active shooter investigation” amid reports a police officer had been struck.”New Yorkers: there is an active shooter investigation taking place in Midtown right now. Please take proper safety precautions if you are in vicinity and do not go outside if you are near Park Avenue and East 51st Street,” Mayor Eric Adams wrote on X.Police officers deployed a drone near Park Avenue at the height of the evening rush-hour as dozens of officers gathered in the area, some carrying long guns and others wearing ballistic vests.A number of ambulances had gathered in the vicinity.Officers at the scene confirmed to an AFP correspondent that there was a shooter but gave no other details.CNN reported that a police officer and at least one civilian had been shot, but AFP was unable to immediately confirm that.Police repeatedly pushed back journalists and members of the public who gathered to see what was happening in the normally calm but busy area of Midtown Manhattan.The area is home to several five-star business hotels, as well as a number of corporate headquarters, including Colgate Palmolive and KPMG, the auditor.