Two die in Reno hospital shooting

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/18/two-die-reno-hospital-shooting

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A man opened fire at a hospital in Reno, Nevada, on Tuesday, killing one person, wounding two others and sending police on a door-to-door search.

The Nevada authorities said the wounded victims were in surgery and one of them was a female doctor. The gunman killed himself after the shooting at the Centre for Advanced Medicine of the Renown Regional Medical Centre.

Robinson said there were about 100 people in the building when the shooting was reported at 2.05pm. Officers entered three to five minutes later and did "a systematic search, floor to floor, room to room".

"On the third floor of the building they located two people down and located two people injured and evacuated the injured parties," he said.

The medical centre was put on lockdown and victims were treated by doctors on the hospital campus. Dozens of police cars, including Swat vehicles surrounded the complex and closed off a three-block area near downtown Reno.

Renown medical centre posted a notice on its website less than two hours after the shooting saying that operations had returned to normal at the main hospital but police were still investigating the shooting. About two dozen witnesses were taken to police headquarters for interviews.

At least one person was transported by ambulance from the building where the shooting happened to the Renown hospital's emergency room, less than a block away, said Scott Walquist, a spokesman for the regional emergency medical services.

Police initially said the gunman shot four people before killing himself but they later said he wounded two people and killed one other, as well as taking his own life.

Renown Regional Medical Centre is the largest hospital in northern Nevada. It has played an important role in responding to several recent tragedies in northern Nevada, including a crash at a Reno air race in 2011 that killed 11 people and a rampage at a Carson City restaurant the same year that killed three uniformed Nevada National Guard members.

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