Gunman is ‘face of evil’
A gunman opened fire yesterday at a Chicago hospital, killing a police officer and two hospital employees in an attack that began with a domestic dispute and exploded into a firefight with law enforcement inside the medical center. The suspect was also dead, authorities said.
It was not clear if the attacker took his own life or was killed by police at Mercy Hospital on the city’s South Side, the police chief said.
Chicago ‘‘lost a doctor, pharmaceutical assistant and a police officer, all going about their day, all doing what they loved,’’ Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, fighting back tears. ‘‘This just tears at the soul of our city. It is the face and a consequence of evil.’’
The chain of events that led to the shooting began with an argument in the hospital parking lot involving the gunman and a woman with whom he was in a domestic relationship, police said.
When a friend of the woman’s tried to intervene, ‘‘the offender lifted up his shirt and displayed a handgun,’’ Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said.
The woman’s friend ran into the hospital to call for help, and the gunfire began seconds later, with the attacker killing the woman he was arguing with. Johnson described her only as a hospital employee.
When officers arrived, the suspect fired at their squad car and then ran inside the hospital. The police gave chase.
Inside the medical center, the gunman exchanged fire with officers and ‘‘shot a poor woman who just came off the elevator’’ before he was killed, Johnson said. ‘‘We just don’t know how much damage he was prepared to do,’’ Johnson said.