3 dead after gunman opens fire at Chicago hospital

Police officers outside of Mercy Hospital in Chicago.

(Image credit: AP Photo/Amanda Seitz)

last updated 20 November 2018

Three people were killed when a gunman opened fire at Mercy Hospital in Chicago on Monday afternoon.

The victims include police officer Samuel Jimenez, a married father of three who joined the Chicago Police Department in 2017, and two hospital employees. The city "lost a doctor, pharmaceutical assistant, and a police officer, all going about their day, all doing what they loved," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. "This just tears at the soul of our city. It is the face and a consequence of evil."

The gunman is dead, a police spokesman said, and it's not known at this time if he took his own life or was shot by officers. The Associated Press reports the incident began in the parking lot, when the gunman began arguing with a woman he was in a relationship with, and escalated when a friend intervened. The woman, a hospital employee, was shot and killed, and when police officers arrived, the suspect ran inside the hospital and exchanged gunfire with officers.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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