NEW YORK (NYT) - A doctor armed with an assault rifle rampaged through Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center on Friday (June 30) afternoon, killing another doctor and wounding six other people, five of them seriously. The gunman then set himself on fire and shot himself in the head.
Who Was the Gunman?
- Police identified the gunman as Dr Henry Bello. The hospital lists a Henry Bello on its website, working in family medicine.
- According to the New York State Education Department, Bello had a limited permit to practise as an international medical graduate. It was issued on July 1, 2014, and expired as of July 1, 2016. He also had a pharmacy technician licence that had been issued in California in 2006.
- He was hired by the hospital in August 2014, according to Errol C. Schneer, its vice-president, and left in February in lieu of being terminated. Police said a workplace sexual harassment accusation against him was the reason.
Who Are the Victims?
- The doctor who died was a young woman who was shot in the chest, according to Dr Sridhar Chilimuri, the hospital's physician in chief. Her name was not immediately released.
- Five other victims, all hospital staff members, are in critical condition. They are a family services physician, three medical students and a gastrointestinal specialist, police and Chilimuri said.
- A sixth person who was wounded, a hospital patient, is in stable condition.
How the Attack Unfolded?
- Bello entered the hospital with an AR-15 rifle hidden under his white hospital coat, according to police. The shootings primarily took place on the 16th floor, according to witnesses.
- Before shooting himself, Bello set himself on fire.
His Troubled Past
- In 2004, Bello was arrested and charged with sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment after a 23-year-old woman told officers he had grabbed her crotch area outside a building in Manhattan and tried to penetrate her through her underwear, a law enforcement official said.
- Court records indicate that Bello pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment in the second degree, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to community service; the felony sexual abuse charge was dismissed.
Did Bello target particular people, or did he attack randomly?
- Police described the attack as the act of a disgruntled worker against his former employer.
What was the nature of his workplace dispute?
-The hospital, citing privacy records, would not say.
Did the hospital know about Bello's past?
- Schneer, the hospital centre vice-president, said on Friday night that the hospital did not know about Bello's criminal past when he was hired. "At that time, and as a result of a human resources and security department background check, which includes fingerprinting, there was no record of any conviction for sexual abuse," he said.
