Gunman kills 1, injures 6 others after opening fire at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center

A gunman killed one person and injured six others before shooting himself Friday at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center.

The New York City Police Department said at a news conference the gunman was a former employee at the hospital.

“This was a horrific situation unfolding in the middle of a place people associate with care and comfort,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the news conference. De Blasio said the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident.

Police received reports at 2:55 p.m. that shots had been fired on the 16th floor of the hospital in the Mount Hope neighborhood of the Bronx.

A police spokesman told reporters that the gunman, who wore a white lab coat, shot several people before turning the gun on himself. An assault rifle was found nearby. A woman was pronounced dead on 17th floor of the hospital, police said. Six other victims — five of them seriously injured — were taken to the hospital’s emergency room.

PBS NewsHour will update this story as it develops.