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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Shooting Reported at Chicago Hospital; Police Officer in Critical Condition | Shooting Reported at Chicago Hospital; Police Officer in Critical Condition |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| CHICAGO — Police officers converged on a hospital just south of downtown Chicago on Monday afternoon after the authorities received reports of a shooting there. One officer was shot and critically injured, a police spokesman said. And at least one assailant was also shot, the spokesman said. | CHICAGO — Police officers converged on a hospital just south of downtown Chicago on Monday afternoon after the authorities received reports of a shooting there. One officer was shot and critically injured, a police spokesman said. And at least one assailant was also shot, the spokesman said. |
| Dozens of officers were sent to the area and were conducting a methodical search of Mercy Hospital, said the spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi. He called on the public to stay away from the area, around Michigan Avenue and 26th Street. | Dozens of officers were sent to the area and were conducting a methodical search of Mercy Hospital, said the spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi. He called on the public to stay away from the area, around Michigan Avenue and 26th Street. |
| One witness, Steven White, a patient who was being treated in the hospital’s emergency room, said he looked out of a window and saw a gunman shooting someone in a parking lot, then running inside the hospital and continuing to fire his weapon as the police chased him. The person who was shot, Mr. White said, was wearing hospital scrubs. The shooting continued even as the person was on the ground, he said. | |
| Inside the hospital, the gunman moved to the back of the emergency room, Mr. White said, and a Chicago police sergeant followed, telling everyone to stay down. | |
| “He was shooting in the back and all the women started yelling and the kids started crying,” Mr. White said. “That’s when the sarge came in, and said, ‘Stay down.’” | |
| Mr. White, 61, who said he was being treated for dehydration, said that more than 20 people were in the emergency room when the shooting began midafternoon. By late Monday, he 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,” Mr. White said. “It’s just sad. It’s Thanksgiving and we have to go through this in Chicago once again.” | |
| Clarence Smith, a hospital employee, was working in the emergency room when “we were told something happened terrible outside.” | |
| “Our first goal was to start grabbing patients out of the rooms,” Mr. Smith, still dressed in scrubs, said outside the hospital. | “Our first goal was to start grabbing patients out of the rooms,” Mr. Smith, still dressed in scrubs, said outside the hospital. |
| Mr. Smith said he evacuated four patients, including one in a wheelchair. One patient who was leaving allowed another patient to get in his car and escape. | Mr. Smith said he evacuated four patients, including one in a wheelchair. One patient who was leaving allowed another patient to get in his car and escape. |
| Mr. Smith described the scene as “chaos.” | Mr. Smith described the scene as “chaos.” |
| “It was a scary situation bringing them out,” Mr. Smith said. “C.P.D. was doing their job,” he said, referring to the police officers. “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.” | “It was a scary situation bringing them out,” Mr. Smith said. “C.P.D. was doing their job,” he said, referring to the police officers. “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.” |
| Mr. Smith said he knew such shootings were possible from watching them unfold on the news in other cities. But, he added: “There’s really nothing that can prepare you for this.” | Mr. Smith said he knew such shootings were possible from watching them unfold on the news in other cities. But, he added: “There’s really nothing that can prepare you for this.” |
| 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. | 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. |
| As the afternoon wore on, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was monitoring events from public safety headquarters with Eddie Johnson, the police superintendent, Mr. Emanuel’s spokesman said. | As the afternoon wore on, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was monitoring events from public safety headquarters with Eddie Johnson, the police superintendent, Mr. Emanuel’s spokesman said. |
| This developing story will be updated. | This developing story will be updated. |