Note may detail killer’s paranoia

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The man who gunned down 13 people in an immigrant center here thought police had harassed him for years, spreading rumors about him and touching him in his sleep, and apparently he was intent on killing people before returning “to the dust of the earth,” according to a rambling letter in broken English that was mailed to a TV station the day of the massacre.

The letter’s authenticity could not immediately be verified Monday, but the city said it was reviewing the material as “evidence in the investigation.” The letter was mailed to News 10 Now, in Syracuse, and postmarked Friday, the day Vietnamese immigrant Jiverly Wong stormed into the American Civic Assn. and went on a rampage before killing himself.

“I am Jiverly Wong Shooting the people,” the letter begins.

The letter was dated March 18, more than two weeks before the shooting. It included photos of Wong smiling with two guns, a gun permit and his driver’s license.

The envelope carried three stamps: two Purple Hearts and a Liberty Bell.

The letter ends with him saying he can’t “accept my poor life,” that he is taking on the job of a judge and will “cut my poor life.” He writes “at least two people with me go to return to the dust of the earth.”

Police speculated that Wong, who was ethnically Chinese but was from Vietnam, was angry over losing a job and frustrated about his poor English skills.

“I am sorry I know a little English,” the letter reads.

It indicates a delusional man obsessed with unidentified police he says taunted him and tortured him, even going into his room, watching him sleep and touching him while he slept.

The letter says police stole money from his wallet and stopped their cars in front of him 32 times in efforts to make him crash into them.

“I never hit the car,” the letter states.

In a statement, the city of Binghamton, which is about 140 miles northwest of New York City, said it was reviewing the letter but would release no further comment about it until a media briefing scheduled for today.

News 10 Now said it received the letter Monday.

In staccato bursts, the letter writer strings together a tale of police harassment following him from California to New York.

“Many time from 1990 to 1997 at the day time . . . cop exploit unknow English and went to my house knock the door for harass and domineer,” it reads. “Of course during that time cop coined something was not true about me and spread a rumour nasty like the California cop.”

Wong, 41, spent several years in California, where in 1992 he was arrested on a bad-check charge. It was in California, where he drove a truck, that he divorced his wife, Xiu Ping Jiang, in 2006. He returned to Binghamton the next year.

The writer expressed frustration over losing his job at a vacuum manufacturer, and often sounded paranoid.

There are passages of pure politeness:

“Please continue second page thank you.”

But the letter ends with dark foreboding.

“Any way I can not accepted my poor life. Before I cut my poor life I must oneself get a judge job for make an impartial with undercover cop by at least two people with me go to return to the dust of earth.

“Already impartial now . . . cop bring about this shooting. Cop must responsible.”

The letter, neatly written in capital letters, ends with:

“And you have a nice day.”