Officials Defend 43-Minute Delay in Binghamton

Testy officials in upstate New York today defended police officers' 43-minute delay at the Binghamton shootings crime scene, the AP reports. The fatal wounds of 14 victims on Friday were so severe, "nobody could have been saved if the police walked in the door that first minute," Broome County DA Gerald Mollen said. Police arrived quickly after 911 calls from the immigrant services center, but waited outside.

Pressed by reporters on why police dallied, Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said gunman Jiverly Wong "was dead. We didn't know it. If there's a bunch of cops laying on the floor shot trying to rescue somebody else, it's not going to help anybody." Mollen jumped in: "I don't think it's fair to ask Chief Zikuski to respond to hypotheticals," he said, adding that a full report was forthcoming. (More shooting stories.)