Police Officer Killed in Shooting at Chicago Hospital

CHICAGO — This city’s hospitals have grown all too accustomed to receiving victims of gunshot wounds from unrelenting violence on the streets, but on Monday, one hospital became the scene of a shooting that sent health workers and patients alike scrambling for safety.

As a frantic scene played out inside and outside Mercy Hospital, south of Chicago’s downtown, at least four people were shot, Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for Chicago police, said. One was a police officer, who later died, the spokesman said. The assailant was also among the injured, police said.

“Our first goal was to start grabbing patients out of the rooms,” said Clarence Smith, a hospital worker who described evacuating four patients, including one in a wheelchair, during the chaotic and frightening minutes that followed a cascade of gunshots. “You don’t know if the active shooter is down the hall or not. You had to put the blinders on and just keeping moving forward, and that’s what I did.”

Witnesses described a gunman shooting a person who was wearing green hospital scrubs in a parking lot outside the hospital. The shooting continued even as the person was on the ground, according to Steven White, a patient who was being treated in the emergency room and saw the parking lot shooting from a window. As police ran up, the gunman continued shooting and ran inside the hospital, White said.

Inside the hospital, the gunman moved to the back of the emergency room where more than 20 patients were waiting for treatment, White said. A Chicago police sergeant followed, White said, telling everyone to stay down.

“He was shooting in the back and all the women started yelling and the kids started crying,” White said. “That’s when the sarge came in, and said, ‘Stay down.'”

At that point, workers tried to usher ill patients outside to safety. Others hid, huddled in hospital rooms. Officers and emergency vehicles streamed into the area near Michigan Avenue and 26th Street, and people were warned to stay away. Inside the hospital, teams of police could be seen darting down hallways, searching room by room.

Joan Fortune, a pharmacist who works at the hospital, said she had been talking to a customer about cough medicine when he asked whether she had heard about the shots being fired. Immediately, she said, a technician closed the rolling shutter to the pharmacy, locked the door and ran to a back area.

“We just sat there,” she said. “We heard arguing. We heard more shots.” When the gunman entered the hospital, she said, he was about 10 or 15 feet away from her at one point, though separated by two sets of doors. After they huddled in silence for about 30 minutes, she said, police officers banged on the door and said it was safe to come out, guiding them outside.

Around the hospital, streets were shut down for several blocks in all directions. Scores of police cars, marked and unmarked, filled the neighborhood, along with fire trucks and ambulances.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel was monitoring events from public safety headquarters with Eddie Johnson, the police superintendent.

By late Monday, White, 61, who said he had gone to the emergency room to be treated for dehydration, said he had not yet processed what he had seen.

“You see it on TV, you know, movies and stuff, but you never see someone sit there and turn around coldhearted and shoot somebody while they’re still on the ground,” White said. “It’s just sad. It’s Thanksgiving and we have to go through this in Chicago once again.”