NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A family medicine physician and former employee opened fire at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center Friday afternoon, killing at least one person before fatally shooting himself, authorities said.
Up to six other people were shot. Several other people suffered minor injuries while attempting to get away.
The extent of the injuries of the other shooting victims wasn’t immediately clear. A witness told CBS2’s Valerie Castro one of the victims was a doctor who had been shot in the hand.
The gunman has been identified as Dr. Henry Bello. He allegedly brought a rifle into the hospital underneath a white lab coat.
PHOTOS: Shooting At Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center | MORE: Witnesses Describe Moments Of Panic, Shooting Aftermath
The incident began at 2:50 p.m. at 173rd Street and Grand Concourse in the Mt. Eden section.
Responding officers went floor by floor searching for Bello.
Due to reports of a shooting incident at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, avoid the area of 1650 Grand Concourse. More information to follow.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) June 30, 2017
A “red alert” went off within the hospital, which was placed on lockdown. Doctors and nurses barricaded themselves within.
“Everybody said ‘Code red, shut your doors.’ We didn’t know what was going on, we were scared. I heard people screaming. … I pushed the chair to the door so nobody could come in,” a hospital patient named Toby told CBS2’s Valerie Castro. “I got scared. I started crying, I didn’t know what to do.”
Images posted on social media showed some of the impromptu barriers against the doors.
“People were scared, they were nervous,” Toby added. “I feel very grateful, I’m scared to go back inside.”
One of the gunshot victims was a doctor who had been shot in the hand, witness Gonzalo Carazo said.
“It was scary seeing the blood on the doctors,” Carazo said. “I saw blood on the floor, I saw blood on one of the doctor’s hands.”
“When I heard that my heart started beating and I prayed. I called my pastor to pray for us,” a woman named Hilda said. “I told everybody to pray because we didn’t know what would happen to us. … We locked the door and everybody laid down on the floor. I’m sickened.”
“We heard ‘active shooter, active shooter,'” ambulance worker Robert Maldonado said. Maldonado was on the ninth floor, and said police carried a victim down from the 12th floor. Maldonado, his partner and police officers then carried the shooting victim down nine flights of stairs to the ground floor, he told Castro.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill were both on the scene after the shooting.
Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center describes itself as the largest voluntary, not-for-profit health care system in the south and central Bronx.
The 120-year-old hospital claims nearly 1,000 beds spread across multiple units. Its emergency room is among the busiest in New York City.
The hospital is about a mile and a half north of Yankee Stadium.
Check back soon for more information on this developing story.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)