Doctor Kills 1, Injures 6 in NYC Hospital Shooting
The hospital shooting suspect was forced to resign from Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center two years ago amid sexual harassment allegations.
The shooting took place on Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center's 16th and 17th floors.
A doctor who was forced to resign from Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in 2015 shot and killed another doctor and injured six other staff members on Friday.
The suspect, 45-year-old Dr. Henry Bello, hid the AR-15 he was carrying under his lab coat, walked past security, entered Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center and searched for a former colleague. When Bello learned that his target wasn’t there, he opened fire anyway, killing another doctor, 32-year-old Tracy Sin-Yee Tam, who was covering a shift as a favor, reports ABC News.
Six others were injured during the attack, having been shot in the head, chest or abdomen. The suspect then attempted to set himself on fire and then fatally shot himself.
While all of this was happening, employees scattered, locking themselves and patients inside rooms as the hospital announced there was an armed intruder inside the facility, reports the Associated Press.
Nurses and physicians risked their own lives to find and treat the victims and move them to safety, reports CNN. Officials say these efforts saved lives.
Additionally, hospital staff had been trained on active shooter response and lockdown, which they applied during the shooting.
The attack happened on the 15th and 16th floors of the hospital.
Two years ago, the suspect worked at Bronx-Lebanon for about six months as a house physician but was forced to resign from the hospital amid sexual harassment allegations. At the time, Bello warned his colleagues that he would come back some day and kill them, reports ABC News.
Bello had a history of run-ins with the law, including pleading guilty in 2004 for lifting up a woman and carrying her off. In 2009, he was arrested for unlawful surveillance for trying to look up two women’s skirts with a mirror. He also had financial troubles and had lived in shelters at least twice.
Since being forced to resign from Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, the suspect had been working for New York City’s HIV/AIDS Service Administration, reports localsyr.com. He stopped reporting to his job on April 11 and was officially terminated June 21. The city had run a background check on him, but it did not report his 2004 plea because the charge didn’t disqualify him from the job.
Approximately two hours before the shooting, Bello sent an email to the Daily News, blaming Bronx-Lebanon for ruining is career over “bogus complaints,” reports Newsday.
The doctor who was the original target told officials that the suspect would frequently get into arguments with nurses and other staff members.
The shooting is being investigated as a case of workplace violence, reports NBC New York.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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About the Author
Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
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This a total failure of the N.Y. State background check system through the justice system and the unsafe act in preventing this sort of event. His record should have been put into the system and he would have been flagged not to be sold too.
Another thing, why was the hospital security staff not informed about this former employee. Where I work we have a PNG file for people who we want to keep off campus, and yes it works.
I would like to know what the physical security is of the hospital, was it secure, or did they like most places let it go where anyone could get in by avoiding the front entrance?