A tragic shooting in the lobby of a Manhattan federal building has resulted into the deaths of the gunman and a security guard.

Sixty eight year-old Kevin Downing of Fort Lee, New Jersey, a military veteran and former employee of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, opened fire in a building that houses a regional office for the Labor Department on Saturday. After slaying security guard Idrissa Camara, Downing took his own life.

Downing served in the military in the 1960s and was discharged with distinction. After his years of service, he worked for the Labor Department until he was terminated in 1999. In recent years Downing worked with the New York Police Department to investigate whether his firing was on legitimate grounds.

“There is evidence to indicate Mr Downing’s termination was inappropriate because it was in retaliation for his communication with congressional staff regarding what he believed to be waste and abuse present in the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” one NYPD prosecutor said.

The police don’t have any evidence suggesting that Downing’s attack was terrorist-related.

“We’re in the very early stages of the investigation and are working to establish his motive for coming here, if he had an intended target beyond the security officer, and what the motive was behind the crime,” the police said.