The scene is dated June 2001, the same month in which Nepal’s crown prince Dipendra Shah shot members of the royal family (including himself).

A photograph obtained by Gawker from the  Facebook page of a New York Times former staff, shows  opinion editor Andrew Rosenthal posing with a toy M-16, standing over people pretending to be dead bodies. 

The photos taken in 2001 and 1997, were published on the Gawker website. They were leaked to Gawker by a former Times staffer. 

 “These photos are in poor taste, not reflective of the values of The New York Times and deeply regrettable,” the paper’s publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., said in a statement  on Tuesday.

The 1997 shot shows, then the paper’s foreign editor, Bill Keller standing over a group of staffers lying on the floor recreating the mass suicide of Heaven’s Gate cult members. The incident had occurred the same year in San Diego.