Hospital Shooting: Doctor, pharmaceutical assistant among 4 dead
Chicago, Nov 20: Mercy Hospital has identified two members of its staff killed in a shooting that left four dead, also including the gunman and a police officer.
Emergency room physician, 38-year-old Tamera O'Neal, was described as a fascinating, hardworking person. Hospital officials said that O'Neal never worked on Sunday because of her religious beliefs.
Police say O'Neal was confronted in the hospital parking lot by the gunman, with whom she had been in a domestic relationship. Witnesses say the man shot her and she fell to the ground. The gunman then stood over her and shot her again.
Hospital officials say 25-year-old pharmaceutical assistant Dayna Less, who was in training to become a pharmacist, was also killed. According to police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, the woman was shot as she stepped from an elevator. She was a recent Purdue University graduate.
Also killed was 28-year-old Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez, the father of three children.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson says the four dead in the shooting at Mercy Hospital include two hospital employees, a Chicago police officer and the suspected gunman.
Johnson says the shooting began outside the hospital with a "verbal altercation" in the parking lot between people who knew each other. A friend tried to intervene and the suspected gunman pulled up his shirt and showed a weapon. Gunfire erupted and the shooter ran inside the hospital, where police confronted him.
He says that one of the women killed was in a domestic relationship with the gunman.
Earlier, witnesses said a gunman repeatedly shot a woman near a parking lot outside the building before entering the hospital and opening fire. Police say the suspected gunman is dead, but it's unclear if he took his own life or was killed by police.
Mercy Hospital & Medical Center released a statement late Monday afternoon saying police officers have secured the facility and that patients are now safe.
Police haven't released details about the suspected gunman, the victims or a possible motive.
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Lebanon appoints new representative for talks with Israel, rejects linkage to Iran
Beirut: Lebanon’s has moved to underline its independent position in ongoing regional developments, amid attempts to link the country to the broader conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel.
President Joseph Aoun, while announcing the appointment of former US ambassador Simon Karam as Lebanon’s representative in talks with Israel, made it clear that Karam would be the sole representative for Lebanon and that there would be no substitute.
The move comes in response to what the Lebanese officials see as efforts by Iran to tie Lebanon’s situation to the wider regional conflict. Iran had indicated that there would be no ceasefire involving the US, Israel and Iran unless it also included a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Some groups, including Hezbollah and its supporters, had expressed support for linking the situations, citing concerns that the Lebanese government has limited leverage in negotiations with Israel. Lebanon is not formally a party to the conflict, and its army is considered weak.
However, others, including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, have opposed this approach. They view Iran’s stance as an attempt to influence Lebanon’s internal affairs and see it as undermining the country’s sovereignty.
Officials backing the government’s position say the move is aimed at reaffirming Lebanon’s sovereignty and ensuring that decisions about peace and ceasefire within the country are not dictated externally.
They also see it as a safeguard, so that any breakdown in talks between the US, Israel and Iran does not automatically lead to renewed conflict in Lebanon.
