Jiverly Wong - The Binghamton Murderer

Jiverly Wong aka Jiverly Voong aka Linh Phat Voong, 42 killed 13 people at the American Civic Association before turning the gun on himself. Although no one knows why Wong walked into the ACA building and became the worst mass murderer in Binghamton's history, more details have emerged about his life.

Voong arrived in Binghamton with his family from Vietnam sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s. He however did not stay there but moved to California, where he was arrested on check-forgery charges in Rosemead and convicted of misdemeanor fraud in 1992. He got married, had two children with his wife, and later divorced in California.

Voong became a naturalized citizen in November 1995. Shortly after becoming a citizen Voong left the country and did not return until Dec. 25, 1999, when he arrived in Los Angeles on a plane from Tokyo, Japan. After failing to report for work in July of 2007, Voong turned up in Binghamton, where he received a New York State drivers license.

At some point Voong changed his name to Jiverly Wong because he said that "Americans can't pronounce my real name." He also had problems with English. Friends and family have said that Wong often felt humiliated and picked on because he didn't speak English well. He was taking English classes at the American Civic Association until he dropped out in the first week of March.

Wong not only had problems with English but also with Vietnamese. Even though the family migrated from Vietnam, Wong's first language was a Chinese dialect. He spoke neither English nor Vietnamese very well.

Sam Quach, who works at the Hang Phat Market and ran into Jiverly Wong at the gym two weeks ago, said Wong struggled to fit into the English-speaking community, as well as the Vietnamese one. Wong said that when he first immigrated to America, he would go to parties but other Vietnamese would make fun of him because he did not understand certain Vietnamese phrases, Quach recalled. Eventually, Wong stopped trying to socialize, Quach said.

People who worked with Wong describe him as a loner. According to Kevin Greene, who worked with him at the Shop Vac assembly plant in Binghamton before it closed in November:

"I asked him if he liked the Yanks," and "he said, 'No, I don't like that team. I don't like America. America sucks.'"

Kevin Greene, who lives outside of Binghamton, said he worked with Voong - whom co-workers knew as Jiverly Wong - for a few months. He told FBI investigators he and a buddy used to joke about how they thought Voong "would come in mad one day and shoot people. He seemed like that kind of guy."

Donald Ackley, who worked with the gunman at the Shop Vac Assembly plant from where he had recently been laid off, said: "He made some off-the-wall comments like he wanted to kill the president. We all thought he was an oddball. He was always talking about guns."

In fact Jiverly Wong did seem to like guns - a lot. Wong had two handguns registered to him on a gun permit he got in 1996 or 1997, police said. Broome County Sheriff David Harder said Wong last bought a handgun on March 17. but he could not say whether that gun was one of the two used in the killing spree.

Wong used to regularly visit Gander Mountain, an outdoors store in Johnson City, where he lived. He frequently exchanged guns at the store, said Dave Henderson, Gander Mountain's outdoor education series coordinator. Wong would buy a handgun and shoot it for a few weeks before returning it, saying he didn't like the gun, Henderson said.

"He was in there real regular. Everybody knew him," Henderson said.

Henderson, whose primary role at Gander Mountain is to teach and organize seminars, said he worked the gun counter when staffing at the store was low. In the 20 or so times he worked the gun counter in the past six months, Henderson said Wong either bought or exchanged guns five or six times. Wong bought a .45-caliber handgun within the past month and a half Henderson said. Each time he bought or exchanged a weapon, Wong had to pass an FBI background check. He also frequently grew agitated when store employees couldn't understand his English, Henderson said. A couple of times, Henderson had to pass Wong off to another store employee because Wong would get annoyed.

"He would get frustrated," Henderson said in a telephone interview from Madison, Wis., where he was attending a gun show. "There were times I wouldn't even talk to him anymore."

Henderson saw news reports about the massacre in Binghamton. When Wong's name was released, he recognized the first name instantly, he said, but the last name was slightly different than Wong's driver's license and gun permit. He said he called the manager of the store, who checked the records and confirmed Wong bought guns at Gander Mountain.

In the meantime, all of the victims in the deadly shooting have been identified and the community is now beginning a long healing process, officials said. People from eight different countries, including the US, were victims of Jiverly Wong's Massacre in Binghamton:

From China

• Li Guo 47 Binghamton, NY


• Hong Xiu Mao 35 Greene NY


• Hai Hong Zhong 54 Endwell, NY


• Jiang Ling 22 Endicott, NY

From Haiti

• Marc Henry Bernard 44 Endicott, NY


• Maria Sonia Bernard 46 Endicott, NY

From USA

• Maria Zobniw 60 Binghamton, NY


• Roberta Bobby King 72 Binghamton, NY

From Vietnam

• Lan Ho 39 Binghamton, NY


• Jiverly A. Wong 42 Johnson City, NY   **The Gunman**

From Pakistan

• Parveen Nln Ali 26 Binghamton, NY

From The Philippines

• Dolores Yigal 53 Binghamton, NY

From Iraq

• Layla Khalil 57 Binghamton, NY

From Brazil

• Almir O. Alves 43 Unknown

One victim of the massacre managed to survive a gunshot wound to the abdomen. She pretended to be dead and when Wong moved on to claim the lives of 12 other people, she bravely managed to call the police and alert them to what was happening. Her name is Shirley DeLucia, 61.

"She is a hero, there's just no two ways about it," DeLucia's niece, Lynette Menichelli, tearfully told the Daily News. "For us, we are not surprised she did what she did, she's such a wonderful person. We are just so proud of her."

Shirley DeLucia came into work on Friday morning as usual. She was always willing to help immigrants on their path to citizenship. She had spent her life volunteering and was the first person neighbors turned to in a time of need, friends said. It was her call for help that brought the police so quickly to the scene. A receptionist working alongside DeLucia died at the scene along with 12 others in a neighboring classroom. 37 students and teachers managed to escape, thanks in part to DeLucia's quick thinking.

"She kept us abreast the best she could of what was going on inside the building," Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikusky said. "She's a heroine and I believe she saved some lives," Zikusky said.

DeLucia was in the intensive care unit at Wilson Regional Medical Center yesterday. Relatives said she had been taken off a ventilator and was expected to make a full recovery.

UPDATE: A letter was sent by the gunman see details here