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Mercy Hospital shooting in Chicago: what we know
Multiple people, including a police officer, were killed.
Four people, including the gunman, were killed in a shooting at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center on Chicago’s South Side on Monday, according to police.
Besides the shooter, a police officer, an emergency room doctor, and a pharmacy resident were killed.
The gunman first opened fire outside the hospital, but eventually moved into the hospital, shooting others and exchanging gunfire with police. The hospital has since been secured.
The story is still developing. Here’s what we know, and don’t, so far.
What we know
- Around 3 pm local time, the gunman shot a woman at the Mercy Hospital parking lot. He then went into the building, where he continued firing shots. Police responded to the shooting, and exchanged fire with the gunman, officials said at a press conference.
- The shooter, identified by police as 32-year-old Juan Lopez, was killed. It’s not clear if he died by police fire or a self-inflicted gunshot.
- The victims, as reported by the Chicago Tribune: Tamara O’Neal, an emergency room doctor; Dayna Less, a first-year pharmacy resident; and Samuel Jimenez, a police officer.
- The shooter was in a relationship with O’Neal, and confronted her in the parking lot before shooting her, according to the Tribune.
Javier Zarracina/Vox
- The hospital is secure, and expected to reopen on Tuesday, ABC 7 reported.
- The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives tweeted that its Chicago division “is responding to the active shooting incident at Mercy Hospital in Chicago and assisting our local and state partners.”
- Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) responded on Twitter to the shooting: “My heart is with Mercy Hospital in Chicago tonight. I am praying for the victims, their families, and those who were injured during the shooting this afternoon. And I am extremely grateful to the Chicago Police Department who responded with bravery.”
- There have been more than 310 mass shootings in the US so far in 2018, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The organization defines mass shootings as events in which four or more people, excluding the shooter, were shot but not necessarily killed in a similar time and place.
What we don’t know
- The shooter’s motive
