Officials say one doctor is dead and several other doctors are injured after a shooting at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Friday afternoon. NY1's Angi Gonzalez filed the following report.
It was just before 3 p.m. Friday when police learned a man armed with an assault rife was shooting inside Bronx-Lebanon Hospital.
The gunman wounded six people on the 16th floor, some of them doctors.
"I saw one of the doctors got shot," said one witness. "They had to take him down the steps. The elevator was shut down."
The gunman also killed a female physician on the 17th floor before turning the gun on himself.
"This was a horrific situation unfolding in the middle of a place that people associate with care and comfort," said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The shooter has been identified by sources as Henry Bello, a former family medicine practitioner at the Bronx-Lebanon. He was forced to resign back in February 2015, only about six months after he started working there.
Sources say Bello had a reputation for being argumentative and problematic. There were sexual harassment complaints lodged against him.
Authorities tell us the shooter used his clothing to hide the weapon from plain view.
"The suspect was wearing a white medical-type coat," said Police Commissioner James O'Neill.
Police immediately began their active shooter protocol, searching for the gunman floor by floor. The FDNY also responded after a fire alarm went off when Bello tried to set himself on fire.
Workers already inside the hospital did their best to help the victims.
"We got called in towards the stairway. We ran there, and that's when we saw the patient on the floor. Immediately put pressure," said Robert Maldonado, an EMT.
"I saw blood on the floor. I saw a doctor with blood on his hands," said one witness. "It was scary. People were crying. People were all nervous. I was just trying to keep people calm."
During a news conference, the mayor highlighted the bravery of those employees, who sources tell us trained for this very type of scenario only a month ago.
"The doctors and nurses came and told us we have to evacuate ourselves or lock ourselves up in a room. So we did so," said Zephaniah Phillip, a hospital employee.
As to a motive, that remains unclear and will likely be a focus of the police investigation into what happened.