PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS SECURITY CHIEF
| Press Briefing |
PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS SECURITY CHIEF
At a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon, the Chief of United Nations Security and Safety Service, Michael McCann, praised his security officers for their “very brave” and “very quick” response to a threat presented by a violent intruder near the main entrance to the United Nations premises in New York earlier today. The shooting incident, which took mere seconds, drew a quick response from United Nations security officers and other security personnel in the area.
Mr. McCann made his comments during the specially convened briefing at 2:45 p.m., to discuss the incident and to provide information about the sequence of events that followed.
He began with a brief description of the incident itself. According to the information available to him, he said, around 1:10 p.m. a male entered the United Nations compound from 43rd Street. He had in his possession a handgun which he fired in the air and also in the direction of the United Nations Secretariat building. He struck the 18th and 20th floors. No one was injured. Once the gun was emptied of its seven bullets, the man put down the gun, a .357 revolver, threw some pieces of paper into the air and was quickly apprehended on the ground by members of the United States Secret Service, the United States State Department security personnel, the New York Police Department and United Nations security officers. The man, he said, did not resist arrest and remained in the custody of United States authorities.
In response to questions from correspondents, Mr. McCann said the man’s name was Steve Kim. He was born in 1945. Mr. McCann said he was not, at the time of the briefing, certain about the man’s nationality. It was rumoured that he was American. The man was not a United Nations employee. The papers that he threw into the air were “rambling notes about human rights and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”.
Mr. McCann explained that the man gained entry to the United Nations compound by climbing over a fence, about five or six feet in height, at 43rd Street. Although United Nations security personnel were authorised to shoot, they did so only to protect the lives of delegates, members of the media and staff, among others, and also in self-defence. In general, the policy was for them to use minimal force.
Questioned about the possibility of the New York Police Department providing greater assistance as a result of the incident, he said that the United Nations had been receiving a great deal of help from the NYPD, especially since 11 September 2001.
In response to another question, about the consequences of the incident for future security arrangements by the United Nations, Mr. McCann made reference to the capital master plan. That plan would increase United Nations
security personnel by about 36 new members and upgrade the technology and other systems in use. So far only a few individuals had been recruited.
Though the United Nations security system was at present being reviewed by the relevant committees, he added, the incident had forced, as is standard procedure, an immediate evaluation of the event and a critique of the arrangements in place. Consideration would also be given to the possibility of erecting a secondary fence.
Mr. McCann stated that the man had been removed from the United Nations complex and placed in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He would be charged under United States law, on charges that would be laid by the United States Attorney-General’s Department.
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