Gunman kills doctor in hospital car park

OFFICER AMONG THREE VICTIMS

AN argument outside a Chicago hospital turned deadly when a man pulled out a gun and killed an emergency room doctor whom he knew, then ran into the hospital and fatally shot a pharmacy worker and a police officer.

The attacker, Juan Lopez, also died but it was not clear if he took his own life or was killed by police at Mercy Hospital on the city’s South Side.

Chicago “lost a doctor, pharmaceutical assistant and a police officer, all going about their day, all doing what they loved”, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. “This just tears at the soul of our city.”

Mercy Hospital said the staff who died were Tamara O’Neal, 38, an emergency room doctor who never worked on Sunday because of her religious faith, and Dayna Less, 25, a first year pharmacy worker who had recently graduated from Purdue University.

The dead officer was identified as Samuel Jimenez, 28.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi described the shooting as a “domestic-related active shooter incident”, but provided no details about the relationship between the two. Lopez, 32, and Ms O’Neal had been arguing in the hospital car park.

The death of Mr Jimenez comes nine months after another member of the Chicago Police Department, Commander Paul Bauer, was fatally shot while pursuing a suspect in a business district.