Terror at Blackstone: The Harrowing Hours at 345 Park Avenue

(Bloomberg) -Arm 44. He reached Jon Gray on the floor, in the C-Suite office above Park Avenue: There was an active shooter in the building.

In the lobby below, an armed man had opened fire, killed a uniform police officer and two people working in the office tower. Then, the shooter fired the turnstile, boarded an elevator and departed.

Blackstone Inc.’s billionaire president Gray saw that his phone was enlightened over and over again when he made calls from the partners trying to process those who were trying to process those who were trying to work in the next few hours.

Employees were hiding in bathroom stalls and service cabinets and sofas, tables and stools entered the doors. Photographs of Daklı barricades quickly wandered on social media, which normally exceeded the chaos that exceeds the office environment.

“Rahin,” Gray remembered less than 24 hours after a while in an interview.

What emerged on Monday in the 345 Park Boulevard in the heart of Midtown Manhattan took the sober dimensions: now it stands as the worst mass of the New York City in the quarter century.

The four people killed – a police officer who protected the lobby, a star in Blackstone, a private security guard and a partner in a real estate management company – seemed to have been withdrawn from all segments of New York life.

Even if the office workers hurled on Tuesday, the jackets in the heat of July, the American flag outside, the collective shock of a semi-pole, shattered glass-martyr near the entrance of the building.

Founded in 1985, Blackstone became one of the largest asset managers in the world from a small partnership. The 2008 has exceeded the growth and turmoil, including the global financial crisis and coronavirus sponge. However, as a note to employees on Tuesday, Gray and CEO Steve Schwarzman described it on Monday as the “worst day in the history of the company”.

Wesley Leatner, one of the brightest stars of Blackstone, was among the dead in the lobby when he was about to meet a colleague for a drink. Like family members and friends of the other three victims, Blackstone employees are still trying to cope with starting around 18:30, and many of them have not ended until hours.

At the summit of the evening hurry, a man parked his BMW on the Park Boulevard, attacked a calmly public plaza, stepped into the lobby with a rifle in his hand and opened fire. In the lobby, the fragmented glass and bodies remained still. The office workers ran out of the building or mixed them for a cover.

(Police said that the armed man, who was described as Shane Tamura from Las Vegas, called the headquarters of the NFL Professional Football League in the same building, Tamura ended in Rudin administration on the 33rd floor where he died of an insufficient weapon shot.)

Panic began to spread to 345 Park, from Gilder Waldorf-Arthoria Hotel, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s new, rising center and Beaux Arts Grand Central Terminal to Grand Boulevard. Other companies, including consulting firm KPMG and host Rudin, call the building to the house.

Very few people have yet to know that they had been injured or killed. Many Blackstone employees were still on the tables and began to look for their colleagues and texted to try to find out what was going on. One heard the first fire explosion from the armed attack rifle and immediately warned his colleagues through Microsoft Teams.

A Blackstone employee said it saved too many lives.

Workers, Tamura’s first step in the lobby half an hour after the first step, half an hour after 345 parks, some of the employees, he said. An employee remembered that he was calling a Zoom and opened the door to discover his colleagues with his hands raised on their heads and a few police officers withdrawn. The police group landed for elevator and security.

They were directed to the evening of July, and left their names and phone numbers to scribble the police on paper. Some of them were too petals to hide at first. Since the police continued to sweep each floor, others would only leave around 10 o’clock.

When Blackstone’s offices were completely cleaned, until 23:00, many learned that Leatner had died. Gray was among the managers who went to Bellevue Hospital to support Leatner’s family.

“Now the focus of Wesley’s loss and the trauma last night,” Gray said Gray, Gray said. Only that day Gray had been at Blackstone’s Monday meetings with him.

Late on Tuesday morning, Gray and Schwarzman addressed Blackstone employees around the world through Zoom. Message: Everyone is suffering and normal after such a loss. Schwarzman urged employees to support each other.

Blackstone reviews the security and praised how many employees bosses the tragedy. Rudin had made more guards by shooting security in response to crimes in the region, and then shooting Unitedhealthcare CEO. Many employees are waiting for firmer security. Blackstone’s offices will remain closed this week and it is unclear when it will be reopened.

Everything was very fast, many said. Many added that they could easily be among those who didn’t bring him home.

-With the help of David Scheer.

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