Two shootings claim 5 lives in the US
4 victims killed after argument in hospital, police say
Two separate shootings in the US cities of Chicago and Denver left five people dead and four wounded on Monday.
Four people, including a police officer and the gunman, died in the shooting in Chicago, which occurred in a hospital. In Denver, Colorado, in the western part of the United States, another shooting left one person dead and four wounded.
Authorities say an argument outside Mercy Hospital on Chicago’s South Side turned deadly when the gunman killed an emergency room doctor with whom he was having a relationship. The gunman then ran into the hospital and fatally shot a pharmacy resident and a police officer, authorities said.
The attacker also died on Monday but it was not clear if he took his own life or was killed by police officers, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said.
Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that Chicago “lost a doctor, pharmaceutical assistant and a police officer, all going about their day, doing what they loved”.
“This just tears at the soul of our city. It is the face and a consequence of evil,” he said.
Mercy Hospital said the staff who died were Tamara O’Neal, 38, an emergency room physician, and Dayna Less, 25, a first year pharmacy resident. all
Officer Samuel Jimenez, who joined the Chicago Police force last year, died during the gunfight, officials said. The 28-year-old was married with children and the second Chicago officer killed in the line of duty this year.
In a sign of the random nature of the rampage, the pharmacy assistant shot by the gunman just happened to be getting off an elevator, Johnson said. Her name has not been released.
The identity of the gunman was not immediately released.
The chain of events that led to the shooting began with an argument in the hospital parking lot involving the gunman and O’Neal, police said.
When a friend of O’Neal tried to intervene, “the offender lifted up his shirt and displayed a handgun”, Johnson said.
The friend ran into the hospital to call for help, and the gunfire began seconds later, with the attacker killing O’Neal.
When officers arrived, the suspect fired at their squad car and then ran inside the hospital. The police gave chase. Inside the medical center, the gunman exchanged fire with officers and “shot a poor woman who just came off the elevator” before he was killed, Johnson said, referring to pharmaceutical assistant Less.
Mercy has a rich history as the city’s first chartered hospital. It began in 1852, when the Sisters of Mercy religious group converted a rooming house.
A short time later on Monday, an unrelated shooting occurred in Denver, left one person dead and four wounded. At least one suspect remained at large after the shooting on a downtown street corner while police said the injuries were “believed to be nonlife threatening”.
No further official details were immediately available about the incident, which erupted about 4 pm in the lower-downtown area of Denver known as LoDo, a district filled with hotels, restaurants and high-rise residential lofts.
An eyewitness quoted by The Denver Post told the newspaper he saw a single gunman open fire with a pistol on a group of people, then get into the driver’s seat of his car, slam the door shut and speed away.