And the gunman's mother is looking for answers.
She spoke exclusively to Eyewitness News reporter Jeff Pegues.
Ancela Martinez, had just walked out of a meeting with detectives on Thursday evening. She still had a lot of questions about the Times Square shooting that left her son dead.
Jeff Pegues: "Why did he have a gun in Times Square."
Ancela Martinez: "Now that's what I want to know."
Police say her son, the suspect, was armed with a Mac-10 9mm machine pistol.
"Next thing you know you heard like 'pop, pop, pop, pop'," one witness said.
Witnesses, at least say the gunman fired like 2 shots before an undercover police sargeant fired back. Shooting and killing, 25-year-old Raymond Martinez, in the driveway of the Marriot Marquis hotel just before 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
The NYPD says Martinez's gun was reported stolen in Richmond, Virginia back in October.
"We're lucky that the weapon jammed, because he had 27 rounds of ammunition in that clip. If the weapon hadn't jammed, he potentially could've fired all 27 rounds," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
What happened was terrifying enough for tourists in Times Square.
"I thought, anyway, a bit of a movie or something was going on. Then I realized it was real," one tourist said.
The shooting started just a few blocks away from where it ended.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked about the shooting while appearing at a Manhattan charity event, and he used the question to discuss one of his signature issues - illegal firearms and gun violence in New York and other big cities.
"We've got to stop this," Bloomberg said. "This is one of the great public health threats. And our police officers are clearly in danger."
Police say Martinez and his brother were trying to sell CD's to tourists along Broadway and 46th Street.
Martinez was confronted by a sargeant who runs a task force that monitors aggressive panhandling.
Martinez took off running. There was a chase and then the deadly shootout.
"I want to know why that cop did not shoot him in the leg or something to stop him, but not in his heart," his mother told Eyewitness News' Jeff Pegues.
Martinez said her son was a father and aspiring rapper. She said her son had a license to sell his CDs, but she could not explain why he had a gun or what was written on the business card found in his pocket.
In the suspect's clothing, Kelly said they found a business card from a gun shop in Virginia.
"Hand written on the back of that business card are words to the effect 'I pity the cop who has the nerve to put me in a paddy wagon,'" Kelly said.
According to police, the message apparently references the 1985 martial arts movie, The Last Dragon.
Police continue to investigate the shooting.
Eyewitness News is told the sargeant who fired his gun is a 17-year veteran of the force.
