Man accused of killing colleague in Philadelphia hospital shooting, then opening fire on officers



[ad_1]

A Philadelphia hospital worker shot dead a colleague, left him in a U-Haul truck and was shot dead in a shootout that left two people injured, police said Monday.

Shortly after midnight, police responded to a report of a gunman on the ninth floor of Thomas Jefferson Teaching Hospital, police said. The victim has been identified as a 43-year-old qualified nursing aide.

“We believe the other employee has been targeted. The reasons are still unclear,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a press conference Monday. “We don’t know if the suspect was working tonight.”

The suspected gunman, 55, was wearing hospital gowns at the time of the shooting before leaving the scene in the U-Haul. After an hour-long manhunt, authorities were finally reported by a passer-by in Parkside, a neighborhood in West Philadelphia. The witness said a man in a lab coat was shooting bullets into the air, police said.

When police arrived at the scene, the man started shooting at them, authorities said. Four of the police officers who responded fired back, hitting the man in the upper body and neck. Two policemen were injured in the exchange of gunfire.

The first officer, 30, was shot in the right elbow and the second, 32, was shot in the nose, police said. The two officers, who have been in the force for six years, were stable and are expected to recover.

The alleged shooter was in critical condition, but was expected to survive. Authorities learned he was “wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying multiple weapons,” Outlaw said. “In addition to the long gun, believed to be an AR-15, it also carried some form of semi-automatic handgun.”

Authorities did not disclose the names of the victim or suspect.

The hospital incident was the second fatal workplace shooting in the city since Friday when a security guard was shot inside an office building, NBC Philadelphia reported.

“What can I say about what is happening in such a short period of time? Said Outlaw. “Active shooter situations are usually incidents that happen far and little in between… it’s not supposed to happen that close to each other, but we’re all ready to react and deal with it quickly, and that is what we will continue to do. “

[ad_2]

Source link