[NEWYORK.CBSLOCAL] A doctor of family medicine shot seven people, killing one, before taking his own life at Bronx-Leb Hospital Center Friday afternoon.The gunman was identified as Dr. Henry Bello. He brought an AR 15-type rifle into the hospital underneath a white lab coat, authorities said.
A woman was killed and six other people were hit, five of them receiving serious wounds, according to authorities. One was hit in the leg.
Bello resigned from the hospital in 2015 after allegations of sexual harassment.
Bello searched for an employee before opening fire, sources said.
The gunman opened fire on the 16th and 17th floors at around 2:55 p.m., Police Commissioner James O’Neill said.
It took about 15 minutes from the first 911 call to the time Bello’s body was found on the 17th floor, where most of the shots were fired.
The hospital’s fire alarm system went off during the incident after Bello apparently tried to set himself on fire.
"[Bello] was let go because I guess they figured he was unstable," witness Dione Morales said. "He said he was going to do this."
Morales said Bello made the threat two years ago when he left the hospital.
A "red alert" went off within the hospital during the shooting, which was placed on lockdown. Doctors and nurses barricaded themselves within.
"Everybody said ’Code red, shut the door, don’t come out of your room.’ Well we got scared, we didn’t know what was going on. They said somebody in the hospital had a rifle," a patient named Toby told CBS2’s Valerie Castro. "I just heard people screaming and I got scared and they said close your bedroom door and don’t come out of your room. So I closed the door and didn’t come out of my room. My arm is swollen but I pushed the chair to the door so nobody could come in."