A police officer and several other people, including the apparent shooter, have been wounded in an attack at a US hospital in Chicago, authorities have confirmed.
The officer was critically injured in the shooting about 3.20pm on Monday (local time) at the Mercy Hospital and Medical Center on the city's South Side and taken to another hospital.
"He is in critical condition but receiving excellent care," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. "Please send your prayers."
In a tweet, Guglielmi said there were "reports of multiple victims" in the attack on Michigan Ave in the Bronzeville neighbourhood.
At last four people were believed shot, according to an official.
"At least one possible offender is shot," Guglielmi said in another tweet.
An Emergency Medical Services Plan was called, sending at least 15 ambulances to the scene, for an "active shooter" situation, a Fire Department spokesman said.
About 4.40pm, the hospital announced by tweet that police had secured the building "and patients are safe."
Witnesses said that the shooter had been talking to a woman who became his first victim when the shooting began.
James Gray said he saw at least two people get shot. Gray said he was coming out of the clinic area when he saw a man in a black coat, black hat and dark pants shoot a woman three times in the chest.
The man and the woman had been walking and talking to each other before the shooting, he said. The gunman then shot at a squad car after it turned its lights on and came down the drive.
"It was chaos. It was just mass chaos."
When the gunman came into the hospital, it appeared that he was shooting people at random, said Gray, who saw one other person who was shot.
"And then I ran into the X-ray department and locked the door behind us."
Hector Avitia was watching television in a waiting room at the hospital with his wife when the woman was shot.
Avitia watched through windows as a person in blue scrubs was shot outside and fell to the ground, he said. Officers exchanged fire with the shooter, and the shooter reloaded and fired again at the victim on the ground, Avitia said.
The shooter then made his way inside the hospital as Avitia and those with him hid by a desk.
"Oh my God," said Avitia, when asked how many gunshots he heard. "Reloaded twice. So 32 bullets each."
Erix Horton, who works in environmental services at the hospital, spoke to a Chicago Tribune reporter while outside smoking a cigarette after being inside the hospital when the shooting occurred.
"I was checking out, getting ready to leave," said Horton. "One of the nurses ran back here and it was like she was about to collapse and said (a staff member had) been shot. And she's like, 'Call the police. We have an active shooter.' And that¹s when everybody took cover. They got on the PA, letting everybody know."
Horton said he took cover with others in the break room across from the ER, which has a combination lock, until police entered and escorted everyone out. A Fire Department crew that had just brought in a patient took cover in the room also, Horton said.
While in the break room, they could hear someone firing gunshots in the hallway, eight or nine of them, he said.
"We had to duck. A lot was going through my mind," Horton said. "Make it home to see my wife and my kids. Everybody was just worried about the rest of our coworkers making it out safe."
Moments after Charlie Wells walked into the emergency room to treat an injury, he heard gunfire and dove behind the registration desk. He sat huddled there with about 15 other people. He heard screams, and more gunfire.
Wells said people dropped to the ground. "It was chaos. All panic."
- Chicago Tribune
