Armed doctor kills 1, self at NYC hospital
NEW YORK — A doctor who was forced out from a New York hospital because of sexual harassment accusations returned Friday with an assault weapon hidden under a lab coat and shot seven people, killing one woman in an attack that left several doctors fighting for their lives, authorities said.
The gunman, Dr. Henry Bello, fatally shot himself after trying to set himself on fire at Bronx- Lebanon Hospital, they said. He staggered, bleeding, into a hallway where he collapsed and died with the rifle at his side, officials said.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene as gunfire erupted, spreading terror throughout the facility, as employees locked themselves inside rooms and patients feared for their lives. “I thought I was going to die,” said Renaldo Del Villar, 55, a patient who was in an emergency room getting treatment for a lower back injury.
Law enforcement officials identified the shooter as Bello, 45, who was described on the hospital website as a family medicine physician. Officials said Bello used an AR-15 in the attack on the 16th and 17th floors.
One female doctor was killed and six others wounded — five seriously, said Police Commissioner James O’Neill. The patients were treated in the emergency room.
Bello was allowed to resign from the hospital in 2015 amid sexual harassment allegations, according to law enforcement officials. In unrelated cases, he was arrested in 2004 on a charge of sexual abuse, according to a police report. He was arrested again in 2009 on a charge of unlawful surveillance, after two women said he tried to look up their skirts with a mirror.
The 120-year-old hospital has nearly 1,000 beds and is one of the busiest emergency rooms in the city.