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For Financial District Workers, Shooting Sparks Chaos, Tension -- And Questions

(CBS) -- As heavily armed officers secured Chicago's financial district, thousands of workers at 231 S. LaSalle St. were pulled into the drama Thursday.

CBS 2's Vince Gerasole reports.

"I was thinking I was in a movie; it didn't seem real. You go to work one day and there's a shooting," Stefano Alfredo said Thursday.

Watching the emergency unfold from a neighboring tower, Ambaj Sharmar, worried about his brother, who works at the Bank of America Building, where the workplace shooting had occurred.

That brother, Neil Machchhar, was already sifting through bits and pieces of information from computers and cell phones.

"There was a lot of chatter online from people indicating that there was an incident in the building, and there were armed intruders inside the building," he says.

The two then struck up a "face time" video conversation on their smart phones, to stay informed and keep calm.

The chaos and tense moments eventually gave way when the brothers could finally unite for a comforting moment.

Eventually, a narrative emerged about what happened: A disgruntled employee at firm had shot his boss – gravely injuring him – and then committed suicide, police said.

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