Funeral Held For Security Guard Shot Dead At Varick Street Federal Building
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A funeral was held Friday in East Harlem for a security guard who was killed on the job at a federal government office building last week.
Idrissa Camara, 53, was killed when a former federal employee entered the building in Lower Manhattan and opened fire before turning the gun on himself. An official motive for the shooting has not been provided by authorities, but federal documents show the shooter had been fired from a job years ago.
The sounds of prayers echoed through the streets of East Harlem as mourners lined East 115th Street to pray over the security guard's body, WCBS 880's Kelly Waldron reported. Camara was remembered as a man who would give the shirt off his back for anyone who asked.
Funeral Held For Security Guard Shot Dead At Varick Street Federal Building
"He was a nice person, a very honest person," one mourner said.
Sherrell Dingshaw fought back tears remembering a man who made every one of her mornings brighter with his infectious personality.
"His smile, everyone always remembered his smile," she said. "Just friendly all around, not complaining. He always had good things to say, and always just a genuinely honest, humble, amazing person."
On Thursday, about 200 people also gathered for a special memorial held by the Federal Protective Service.
"The world lost an incredible human being when Idrissa Camara tragically died in the line of duty,'' Joshua Primrose, a vice president with FJC Security Services said at the service. "His courageous actions saved others and we will never forget.''
Camara, a senior security guard at the private security company, was working as a contracted guard at the building at 201 Varick St. on Aug. 21 when Kevin Downing, 68, entered through a side entrance, police said. Downing shot Camara then walked through a screening area and headed toward an elevator, where he encountered another employee; Downing then shot himself in the head, authorities said.
PHOTOS: Fatal Shooting At Varick Street Federal Building
Camara, a father of three young children, died at the hospital about an hour after the 5 p.m. shooting. He was supposed to have gotten off work at 4 p.m. but agreed to stay on for an extra shift.
Carolyn Harley, who worked at the building with Camara for three years, said the mood remains somber among fellow security guards.
"The guards are very, very hurt,'' she said as mourners wept beside her. "We're all hurting, but nevertheless we made an oath to do our job and even in mourning we're going to do it to the best of our ability.''
On Thursday night, Camara was posthumously awarded the director's citation from the Federal Protective Service.
The building where Camara worked houses an immigration court, a passport processing center and a regional office for the Department of Labor. Downing was a former federal employee at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Federal documents show Downing had been fired from a job at the New York City office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1999 and appealed the firing, claiming he had been targeted because he was a whistleblower.
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