A Gunman Opens Fire on the Empire State Building's Observation Deck

On the evening of February 23, 1997, a 69-year-old Palestinian man named Ali Hassan Abu Kamal rode to the Empire State Building's 86th floor observation deck and opened fire on the tourists gathered there. He killed Christoffer Burmeister, a 27-year-old Danish musician, and wounded six others, including Burmeister's bandmate Matthew Gross, before turning the gun on himself. Abu Kamal had bought the pistol legally in Florida weeks earlier and carried letters blaming the United States, France, and Britain for the treatment of Palestinians. For years his family said the attack grew out of a failed business deal and $300,000 in losses. His daughter later said that story was invented to protect a peace process, and that the real motive was political revenge.