Bronx Hospital Shooting: Former Employee Kills 1, Injures 6 Others, Police Say

BRONX, NY — A doctor who used to work at Bronx Lebanon Hospital opened fire on his former colleagues inside the hospital around 3 p.m. Friday afternoon, killing one female doctor and injuring six others, according to the NYPD.

The hour-long shooting spree played out on the 16th and 17th floors of the facility, and ended when the gunman — dressed in a white lab coat and armed with an assault rifle — tried to set himself on fire, then shot himself, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said at a press conference held outside the hospital Friday.

Cops found both the shooter and one of his victims dead on the hospital's 17th floor, O'Neill said.

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The other six shooting victims were found on the hospital's 16th floor, police said — five of them "seriously injured" and one with a gunshot wound to the leg.

Patch's law enforcement sources have named the suspected shooter as 45-year-old Henry Bello, a former "family medicine" doctor at Bronx Lebanon who was recently fired from his job at the hospital.

"This was not an act of terrorism," NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said at Friday's press conference. He said the mass shooting "appears to be a workplace-related matter — but that makes it no less tragic and no less horrible."

The mayor called it "a horrific situation unfolding in a place that people associate with care and comfort."

De Blasio also commended the hospital employees "whose day went from normal to horrifying in a matter of seconds" — and who "protected each other and protected their patients, even amidst this horrible situation."

Watch city officials' full briefing below.

The first shots were fired around 2:50 p.m. Friday, police said. The gunman was declared dead around an hour later.

Panicked social-media dispatches from inside the hospital Friday indicated the facility was on complete lockdown, with patients and employees hiding out in hospital rooms as they listened to the terrifying sound of gunfire nearby.

The city's Office of Emergency Management was warning people to stay away from the scene Friday, and to expect traffic delays and emergency responders in the area of Grand Concourse and Mt. Eden Parkway. (The hospital is located at 1650 Grand Concourse.)

This is a developing story. Refresh the page for updates.

With reporting by Colin Miner and Simone Wilson. Lead image by Joseph Frederick/Associated Press