Officials said the suspect was not from New York but would not provide information about where he came from - either from in the US or overseas.

The Associated Press said that witnesses described a scene of panic and blood, with people screaming in fear and the path strewn with bodies and mangled bicycles.

Tom Gay, a school photographer, was on Warren Street and heard people saying there was an accident. He told the news agency, he went down to West Street and a woman came around the corner shouting, “He has a gun! He has a gun!’

Mr Gay said he stuck his head around the corner and saw a slender man in a blue track suit running southbound on West Street holding a gun. He said there was aanother level.”Gould said that as soon as the law was changed in the afternoon, he spoke to officials in Israel’s Foreign and Defense ministries, and in the Prime Minister’s Office, as well as to people who were affected by this legislation in the past, such as Livni, Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor, former defense minister MK Shaul Mofaz and former OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. (res) Doron Almog.Gould said that Cameron pledged during the election campaign last year that if elected he would change the law. He delivered on his pledge, Gould said.