In brief: Guard, gunman die at federal building

NEW YORK – An armed veteran slipped through a side door of a federal building Friday and shot a security guard in the head, killing him, before fatally shooting himself, police said.

Detectives were investigating what prompted the shooting of FJC Security Services guard Idrissa Camara, who was supposed to have gotten off work at 4 p.m. but agreed to stay on for an extra shift.

The shooter, Kevin Downing, was a former employee at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, police Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said.

Downing had collected Veterans Affairs benefits, but police were still determining which branch of the armed service he served.

He shot Camara, 53, at close range, then walked through a screening area and headed toward an elevator, where he encountered another employee, and then he shot himself in the head, said James O’Neill, a chief with the New York Police Department. He was pronounced dead at the scene.