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  Date / Time: 4/3/2009 7:39 PM UTC

  At least 12 dead in shootings in Binghamton, New York
  

  

  

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  (CNN) -- At least one gunman began shooting Friday in an immigration services building in Binghamton, New York, killing at least 12 people, Gov. David Paterson said.

  

  Emergency personnel tend to a person taken from the building where the shootings took place.

  

  A gunman is among the dead, law enforcement officials said.

  "This is a horrible situation," Paterson said. "There's no available data on what's going on there other than the fact that lives have been lost."

  The local police command center said SWAT teams are still inside, clearing the building.

  A law enforcement source said that more than a dozen people were wounded.

  Two people were seen being led from the building in plastic handcuffs, WBNG reported. It was not immediately known whether the two were under arrest.

  The shootings began about 10:30 a.m. ET at the American Civic Association, which helps immigrants and refugees, the source said.

  The source said there may have been 20 to 40 people taken hostage. Watch cops swarm to scene of 'multiple deaths' »

  It said sharpshooters from the city's SWAT team were poised outside the building.

  Video from the scene showed a person on a stretcher being taken to an ambulance. Watch interactive view of shooting scene

  The Press & Sun-Bulletin said that about 10 people came out of the building shortly after noon. They emerged with their hands on their heads. The police searched some of them, the newspaper reported.

  American Civic Association

  • Founded in 1939 by group of immigrants
  • Private organization funded by United Way
  • Sponsors citizenship education
  • Promotes racial, religious, political understanding
  • Helps immigrants get visas, green cards
  • Hosts everything from tenants' rights seminars to St. Patrick's dinners to polka concerts

  About 12:40 p.m., another 10 -- clad in white sheets -- came out of the rear of the building, the newspaper said. Watch police and SWAT team on the scene »

  Frank Rozboril, a spokesman for Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital in Binghamton said the hospital had one person who had been at the scene in the emergency room. Rozboril said the patient, who arrived about 12:30 p.m., was being assessed.

  Spokesman Richard Kolko said the FBI is sending hostage negotiators and an evidence response team to the scene. The agency has an office in Binghamton, and agents are being sent from offices in Albany and Syracuse as well.

  Nearby apartments were being evacuated, and Binghamton High School is on lockdown, it said.

  "Within minutes, [the situation] turned into one just flooded with police," Bob Joseph, news director of WNBF Radio, told CNN. Are you there? See submitted images, send your own

  The American Civic Association helps immigrants and refugees with a number of issues, including personal counseling, resettlement, citizenship and reunification, and provides interpreters and translators, according to the United Way of Broome County, which is affiliated with the association.

  Rashidun Haque, who owns a nearby convenience store, said police had him and his four customers stay inside and away from the windows.

  "I'm really shaky, because this kind of thing -- it's a small city, it's a beautiful city, but nothing goes down serious like this," Haque said. Wat

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