UPDATE: Shooting At Boston Hospital Targeted Specific Doctor, Suspect Found Dead
A shooting Tuesday morning at Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston wounded one man, reported by Boston TV station WBZ to be a cardiac surgeon who was shot by a male patient.
The victim’s wounds are reported to be extremely serious.
#BPDCommunityAlert: BPD confirming 1 person shot at BWH. Injuries life threatening.Suspect in custody.Gun recovered.Situation under control.
— Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) January 20, 2015
UPDATE 2:45 PM EST: The suspect in the Boston Brigham and Women’s Hospital shooting killed himself Tuesday morning, after apparently targeting a specific doctor, police say.
“We know he came into the hospital on the second floor, asking for this particular doctor,” said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. “There was a particular reason he targeted this doctor…. Right now we’re looking into the possible motive of it.”
Police found the suspect’s body shot in the head on the second floor of the Shapiro Building, which houses the hospital’s cardiovascular unit. The body, dead from what police say was a self-inflicted bullet wound, was in a medical examination room, and a gun was located near the body.
Neither the suspect nor the victim, reportedly a cardiac surgeon, have been publicly identified, but the doctor was reportedly shot two times and is battling critical injuries.
“There has been a shooting in the Shapiro building, and the suspect has been apprehended,” the Boston hospital administration said in a statement issued at about noon Eastern time. “The Shapiro building is no longer in lockdown. More information will be shared as it becomes available.”
The Shapiro building houses Brigham and Women’s cardiovascular unit. The shooting took place on the second floor of the building at about 11 a.m., according to reports out of Boston. By noon, the hospital was reported to be safe, with Boston police bringing the “situation under control.”
The situation at BWH is under control. Boston Police have assured us that the hospital is safe.
— Brigham and Women’s (@BrighamWomens) January 20, 2015
According to a report in the Boston Globe newspaper, one suspect was taken into custody in relation to the shooting incident. But a report by WBZ TV said that the suspect had entered a bathroom on the second floor of the hospital’s Shapiro building, where he then shot himself; police did not say at that time whether the suspect was dead or alive.
Later reports, however, indicate that the suspect remained alive — and whether he shot himself or not, or even attempted to, was unclear.
Patients in the hospital were confined to the building, some of them actually stuck on exam tables, for approximately 45 minutes as police responded to the shooting and made sure that Brigham and Women’s Hospital was secure. The hospital was also placed on “Code Black,” meaning that it could not accept any new patients until police have the go-ahead, according to the Massachusetts State Police, who said they assisted the Boston Police Department in handling the shooting.
Even Boston’s Green Line train service shut down in Boston’s Longwood district.
Another Boston media outlet, Fox Channel 25, reported that the victim with life-threatening injuries was a cardiac surgeon at the hospital.
While it was earlier reported that the shooter was a patient, police have released no information about the suspect’s identity as of 1 p.m. Eastern Time, and there has been no official word about a motive in the Boston hospital shooting.
[Image: WBZ-TV]
