Law enforcement officials prepare to take up positions in front of an immigration services centre in Binghamton, N.Y., where a gunman went on a shooting rampage Friday. (Mike Groll/Associated Press)

A gunman is believed to be among the 14 people found dead following a shooting rampage at an immigrant services centre Friday morning in Binghamton, N.Y., the city's chief of police said.

Chief Joseph Zikuski told reporters at a Friday afternoon news conference he "had very good reason to believe" the shooter was among those killed, but could not confirm that. But he said the man believed to be the shooter was found with a satchel around him containing ammunition.

"We have no idea what the motive is," he said, adding that the man had ties to the centre.

People embrace outside a Catholic Charities office where counsellors assisted relatives of shooting victims in Binghamton N.Y., on Friday. (Matt Rourke/Associated Press)

Zikuski said the gunman barricaded the rear door of the building with his car before entering the building of the American Civic Association through the front.

Zikuski said the man entered a foyer and shot two receptionists. One receptionist was killed, but another pretended to be dead. When the shooter went down the hallway, she crawled under a desk and called 911, he said.

The gunman then went to a room off the reception area and shot several more people, he said. People in the room were part of a citizenship class.

"The people were trying to better themselves, trying to become citizens," Zikuski said.

He added that 26 people, when they heard the shots, took refuge in the basement.

Police recovered two handguns at the scene, he said.

In this photo rendered from video and released by News 10 Now TV in Binghamton, N.Y., police remove a person on a stretcher from the immigration services centre on Friday. (News 10 Now-TV/Associated Press)

Earlier, police emerged from the building with two men in restraints, but Zikuski said neither one was the shooter.

Initial reports indicated 41 hostages were in the American Civic Association building, but Zikuski did not confirm that, saying instead the police removed 37 people safely.

In this photo rendered from video and released by WBNG-TV, authorities in Binghamton take up positions behind a vehicle. (WBNG-TV/Associated Press)

Five people were wounded.

Three people with gunshot wounds were being treated at Wilson Medical Centre in nearby Johnson City, according to hospital spokeswoman Christina Boyd.

Their conditions ranged from stable to critical, and two of them were undergoing surgery, she said. She told CNN another person had been taken to a local community hospital.

A spokeswoman at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton confirmed that a student from Binghamton University was being treated at the emergency room. Spokeswoman Linda Miller said she didn't know the nature of the injuries.

Rich Griffiths, who works across the street from the building, told CBC News a large number of police vehicles appeared at the scene about 10:30 a.m.

The Press & Sun Bulletin reported that 10 people, their hands on their heads, were released from the building shortly after noon. Police searched some of them.

About 40 minutes later, another group of 10 was released, the paper reported.

Binghamton, N.Y., is about 225 kilometres northwest of New York City and 260 kilometres southeast of Rochester. (CBC)

The identity of the gunman hasn't been made public, but Tuong Hung Nguyen — a professor at Binghamton's Broome Community College who is fluent in Vietnamese — was asked to communicate with the shooter earlier in the day, the Press & Sun Bulletin reported.

Gov. David Paterson called the shooting "a tragic day for New York" when he spoke earlier Friday afternoon.

"When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence that is so fraught and so rapid that we can't even keep track of the incidents?" he said in a later news conference.

The American Civic Association says it "assists immigrants and refugees with immigration and personal counselling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification, interpreters and translators" at the centre.

The immigrant centre had planned classes for Friday, according to the Press & Sun Bulletin.

Binghamton, a town of 50,000, is about 225 kilometres northwest of New York City and 260 kilometres southeast of Rochester.

With files from the Associated Press