5 of 6 wounded in New York hospital now in stable condition
NEW YORK » Only one of six people wounded in a shooting rampage at a New York City hospital remained in critical condition Saturday.
Bronx Lebanon Hospital vice president Errol C. Schneer said the improvement of the five others now listed in stable condition is a testament to how “heroically” staff responded to save lives when a doctor forced to resign as a family medicine physician returned with an AM15 assault rifle tucked under his white lab coat and opened fire in his old department.
Dr. Henry Bello then shot himself, and staggered, bleeding, into a hallway where he collapsed and died with the rifle at his side, officials said. A photo showed the doctor on a blood-spattered floor as police stood over him.
“Many of our staff risked their own lives to save patients,” Schneer told reporters Saturday at the hospital where the 16th and 17th floors remained closed.
Schneer said three patients who were listed as very critical have been changed to stable. A fourth patient remains in stable condition, while a fifth in stable condition is being transferred to another hospital for specialized surgery.
A physician remains in critical condition, Schneer said.
The doctor who was killed had been working at the hospital close to a year, and was very “well-liked by the hospital staff,” Schneer said, adding that grief counselors were available to help employees, patients and their families. Her name has not been released. Detectives are trying to piece together what prompted Bello to snap two years after he was forced out, and whether he was hunting for someone in particular when he went to the 16th floor and started shooting.
The Daily News reported Saturday that it had received an email purportedly from Bello about two hours before the rampage.
“This hospital terminated my road to a licensure to practice medicine,” the email said. “First, I was told it was because I always kept to myself. Then it was because of an altercation with a nurse.”
He also blamed a doctor for blocking his chances at getting a chance to practice medicine.
His former co-workers described a man who was aggressive, loud and threatening. After he was forced to resign amid sexual harassment allegations, Bello told colleagues he would be back to kill them.
“All the time he was a problem,” said Dr. David Lazala, who trained Bello as a family medicine doctor. When Bello was forced out in 2015, he sent Lazala an email blaming him for the dismissal.