Doctor opens fire in Bronx hospital, killing 1 and wounding others

A doctor who used to work at a Bronx hospital returned with a rifle and opened fire, killing one person and wounding six others before taking his own life.

TheGrio Staff

Jun 30, 2017

NEW YORK (AP) — A doctor who used to work at a Bronx hospital returned with a rifle hidden under his white lab coat and opened fire Friday, killing one person and wounding six others before apparently taking his own life, authorities said.

The gunfire broke out at 2:50 p.m. inside the Bronx Lebanon Hospital, drawing police cars and firetrucks to the scene and sending officers onto the roof with their guns drawn as people inside the building were told to hide.

Officers went floor by floor looking for the gunman and reported just before 4 p.m. that the shooter was dead inside the building. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the gunman apparently killed himself.

He was identified by law enforcement officials as Dr. Henry Bello, a family medicine physician at the hospital. It was not immediately clear why he was no longer working at the hospital. The officials were not authorized to discuss the still-unfolding investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Emergency crews had been kept from going inside the hospital while the shooter was at large.

Garry Trimble said his wife, hospital employee Denise Brown, called him from inside the hospital shortly after 3 p.m.

“She woke me up and told me there was a situation, somebody’s out there shooting people,” Trimble said as he waited for his wife to come out. “I could hear in her voice she was shaking and about to cry.”

Gonzalo Carazo described the scary scene to WCBS-TV. “I saw one of the doctors and he had a gunshot wound to his hand,” Carazo said.

“All I heard was a doctor saying, “Help, help!” Carazo locked himself in a room for about 15 minutes until police came and led him out of the hospital.

The 120-year-old hospital has nearly 1,000 beds and one of the busiest emergency rooms in New York City. It is about a mile and a half north of Yankee Stadium.

In 2011, two people were shot at Bronx Lebanon in what police said was a gang-related attack.