Doctor killed and six wounded in NYC hospital shooting spree

NEW YORK: A doctor who lost his job at a New York City hospital opened fire with an assault rifle inside the building, killing another physician and wounding six other people before taking his own life in a burst of apparent workplace-related violence, officials said.

On Friday the gunman, wearing a white medical lab coat, stalked two floors of the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, and apparently tried to set himself on fire, officials said.

Police found him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound as they searched the building, they said.

One physician was shot to death, and six other people were injured, five seriously, including one who was shot in the leg, Police Commissioner James O’Neill said at a news conference.

O’Neill said the gunman was armed with an “assault rifle”.

Mayor Bill de Blasio characterised the shooting as an “isolated incident” that appeared to be “workplace-related”, saying the gunman was a former employee of the hospital. He said investigators had ruled out terrorism.

Neither the mayor nor police immediately identified the suspect or any of his victims.

But Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz told WABC News in an interview that the gunman, Dr Henry Bello, had been fired by the hospital.

Other media reports described Bello as a 45-year-old physician who specialised in family medicine.

Authorities said the rampage unfolded shortly before 3pm when the gunman went a shooting rampage on the 16th and 17th floors of the hospital.

Adding to the pandemonium was a blaze he apparently set, triggering fire alarms that halted elevator service in the hospital, hampering efforts by first responders to reach victims and to evacuate the building.