New York police said a male employee shot and killed a co-worker following a heated argument before turning the gun on himself in an apparent suicide.

Police said the 31 year-old worker clocked in at about 2:45pm Sunday at the The Home Depot store, on the West 23^rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. He engaged in a verbal tussle with the store's 38 year-old manager and later pulled out his weapon.

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Gunshots were fired, leaving the manager shot in the abdomen and chest. The gunman then shot himself in the head, while the manager was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police Captain Steven Wren said the motive of the shooting remains unclear, and no identifications have yet been released. A gun was also recovered at the crime scene.

About 70 employees were in the store at the time of the shooting.  Workers and shoppers panicked and rushed to get away at the sound of the gunshots.

Sigourney Rodriguez, who was taking a cigarette break from work nearby recounted, seeing about a hundred people running out of the store.

"You hear gunshots, you're going to run," she said.  Rodriguez said she heard people saying, "He's dead, I tell you he's dead."

One shopper described the scene as "crazy". Susan Lowry said, recalling how some shoppers rushed to escape or hide while others dived on the floor.

Witnesses were quick to turn to Twitter and other social media sites to share what they saw real time. 

Buzzfeed editor Tom Gara tweeted that he got locked up in the store next door and saw one Home Depot employee in tears while on the phone with her husband. Gara called it a "pretty crazy scene."

Buzzfeed reporter Jim Dalrymple also tweeted photos of the scene outside the store, showing scores of onlookers. Police and ambulances also surrounded the crime scene.

The Home Depot is a home improvement store popular among neighborhood residents. In a statement, the management says they are deeply saddened by the tragedy.

While The Home Depot calls the shooting an isolated incident, it vowed full cooperation with the authorities in its ongoing investigation.

TagsNew York City, home depot, home depot shooting, murder-suicide