ABC News gives this description of the event:

“As many as 14 people have been shot dead in a murderous three-minute shooting rampage inside an upstate New York civic association building that caters to immigrants, according to federal and state authorities.”

CNN presents a view from a former hostage negotiator who says saving the lives of hostages is the top priority.

"If they notice that there's a threat going, they have to go inside and because of the unfortunate violence that we had experienced at the different school shootings, the element of the SWAT team, they've prepared to move in immediately, as soon as they've pulled more people together."

AFP provides a list of 19 critical mass shootings in the United States since the Columbine massacre in 1999.

Click on the source name to view the description of the tragedies.

Christian Science Monitor draws a connection between recent outbreaks in violence and the global economic recession:

“Most of these mass killings are precipitated by some catastrophic loss, and when the economy goes south, there are simply more of these losses,” says Jack Levin, a noted criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston.