Ziff Sistrunk
Suspect had been fired from city’s Fire Academy
of Crosses for the Losses kneels outside Chicago’s Mercy Hospital, where four people — two hospital workers, a police officer and the gunman — died in a mass shooting.
CHICAGO – The gunman accused of killing a doctor, a pharmacist and a police officer at Chicago's Mercy Hospital on Monday was kicked out of the city's fire training program more than four years ago for bullying fellow cadets, authorities said Tuesday.
Juan Lopez, 32, bullied multiple cadets, including some women, during his roughly two months at the Chicago Fire Academy in 2014 before he was fired, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said.
"There were some issues with bullying that he was going to be disciplined for, and he went AWOL," Merritt told USA TODAY.
Merritt said he did not have details of the incident for which Lopez was to be disciplined. He said Lopez was fired after failing to show up to work for several days. Lopez did not respond to a wellness check from fire officials.
Lopez had been married and had a child with his ex-wife, according to divorce records.
His former wife said Lopez behaved
dangerously before the marriage dissolved. He slept with a pistol under his pillow, she said, and brandished a weapon on multiple occasions during fits of anger with a neighbor and a realtor.
The woman said that after she began the process to legally separate, Lopez sent her a menacing text message suggesting he would go to her job and “cause a scene.”
Police released details about the deaths Monday of emergency room physician Tamara O'Neal, 38, pharmacy resident Dayna Less, 25, and Officer Samuel Jimenez, 28.
Lopez was killed in the attack. Police said the gunman suffered two gunshot wounds, but they awaited an autopsy to determine whether he was shot by police or shot himself.
Lopez approached O'Neal outside the hospital as she left work Monday evening, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. O'Neal contacted police.
O'Neal told police dispatchers that Lopez, her former fiance, was angry and demanded she return an engagement ring, Guglielmi said. She told dispatchers she feared Lopez was armed.
The gunman opened fire outside the hospital, mortally wounding O’Neal, Guglielmi said. He fired on a police vehicle, then ran into the hospital.
Less was exiting an elevator with another hospital employee when Lopez shot her.
Police initially said Less was killed in crossfire. Tuesday, officials confirmed that witnesses said the gunman appeared to intentionally shoot at her.
Investigators do not think the gunman and Less knew each other.
The hospital employee with Less was not injured.
As the hospital went on lockdown, the gunman ran back outside, Guglielmi said. By then, more officers had arrived.
Lopez shot again at police, who shielded O'Neal's body with their squad cars before retreating back into the hospital. "The officers gave chase," Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said. "They were (across) a hallway, and he was kind of playing peek-a-boo with the officers, firing down the hallway."
Jimenez was shot in the neck, Guglielmi said.
Michael Davenport, Mercy’s chief medical officer, said the hospital held its first active-shooter drill just weeks before Monday's shooting – a move that might have prevented worse carnage.
Not all hospital employees participated in the drill, which was a follow-up on internet and classroom instruction for employees, Davenport said. He said it appeared hospital employees executed the “run, hide, fight” instruction.
“Never in our wildest imagination would we ever think that we would have to experience the day we have,” he said. “It is our inclination, I can speak for myself, you don’t feel well when you’re hiding. You want to open up a door, and you want to see what’s going on, and you want to help. But everyone did what they were trained to do.”