Gunman dead, at least 4 shot at Chicago hospital

CHICAGO — A gunman opened fire Monday afternoon at Mercy Hospital on the city’s Near South Side, wounding at least four people, including a police officer and a hospital employee, authorities said.

The officer was critically injured in the shooting attack at and near the hospital, 2525 S. Michigan Ave., about 4:20 p.m., a police spokesman said.

“He is in critical condition but receiving excellent care,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. “Please send your prayers.”

A police spokesman said the gunman was dead, but it was not immediately clear if he took his own life or was killed by police.

Fire officials called an Emergency Medical Services Plan III, sending at least 15 ambulances to the scene, because of an “active shooter” situation, a Fire Department spokesman said.

A witness named James Gray told Chicago television station ABC 7 that he saw multiple people shot: “It looked like he was turning and shooting people at random.”

The shooting apparently began as the suspect was walking with a woman near a parking lot. He turned and repeatedly shot the woman in the chest. He then entered the hospital and continued firing, Gray said.

Erix Horton, who works in Environmental Services at the hospital, spoke to a Chicago Tribune reporter while outside smoking a cigarette after being inside the hospital when the shooting occurred.

“I was checking out, getting ready to leave,” said Horton. “One of the nurses ran back here and it was like she was about to collapse and said (a staff member had) been shot. And she’s like, ‘Call the police. We have an active shooter.’ And that’s when everybody took cover. They got on the PA, letting everybody know.”

Horton said he took cover with others in the break room across from the ER, which has a combination lock, until police entered and escorted everyone out. A Fire Department crew that had just brought in a patient took cover in the room also, Horton said.

While in the break room, they could hear someone firing gunshots in the hallway, eight or nine of them, he said.

“We had to duck,” he said. “A lot was going through my mind,” he said. “Make it home to see my wife and my kids.

“Everybody was just worried about the rest of our co-workers making it out safe,” Horton said.

A hospital employee said she was in her office when a notice came over a public address system telling those in the hospital to lock their doors. They were later evacuated and people were put on Chicago Transit Authority buses as authorities dealt with the situation.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said as she was ushered onto a bus.

“They told us to run so we did,” one hospital employee said.

ERIN HOOLEY / CHICAGO TRIBUNE People watch after police officers closed off an area near Mercy Hospital on Chicago’s Near South Side where multiple people were reported shot.