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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India harbouring big and bold dreams in space sector: Shubhanshu Shukla
Kolkata (PTI): Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to go to the International Space Station, on Wednesday said the country is harbouring “big and bold dreams”, foraying into human spaceflight after a hiatus of 41 years.
Shukla was the first Indian to visit the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He returned to India from the US on August 17, 2025, after the 18-day mission.
The space is a “great place to be”, marked by deep peace and an “amazing view” that becomes more captivating with time, he said, interacting with schoolchildren at an event organised by the Indian Centre for Space Physics here.
“The longer you stay, the more you enjoy it,” Shukla said, adding on a lighter note that he “actually kind of did not want to come back”.
Shukla said the hands-on experience in space was very different from what he had learnt during training.
He said the future of India’s space science was “very bright”, with the country harbouring “very big and bold dreams”.
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Shukla described his ISS flight, undertaken with support from the US, as a crucial “stepping stone” towards realising India’s ‘Vision Gaganyaan’.
“The experience gained is a national asset. It is already being used by internal committees and design teams to ensure ongoing missions are on the right track,” he said.
Shukla said the country’s space ambitions include the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, the Bharatiya Station (India’s own space station), and eventually a human landing on the Moon.
While the Moon mission is targeted for 2040, he said these projects are already in the pipeline, and the field will evolve at a “very rapid pace” over the next 10-20 years.
He told the students that though these targets are challenging, they are “achievable by people like you”, urging them to take ownership of India’s aspirations.
The sector will generate “a lot of employment opportunities” as India expands its human spaceflight capabilities, he noted.
Echoing the iconic words of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, Shukla said that from orbit, “India is still the best in the world”.
Shukla also asserted that the achievement was not his alone, but that of the entire country.
“The youth of India are extremely talented. They must stay focused, remain curious and work hard. It is their responsibility to help build a developed India by 2047,” he said.
Highlighting a shift from Sharma’s era, Shukla said India is now developing a full-fledged astronaut ecosystem.
With Gaganyaan and future missions, children in India will be able to not only dream of becoming astronauts, but also achieving it within the country, he said.
“Space missions help a village kid believe he can go to space someday. When you send one person to space, you lift million hopes. That is why such programmes must continue... The sky is not the limit,” Shukla said.
“Scientists must prepare for systems that will last 20-30 years, while ensuring they can integrate technologies that will emerge a decade from now,” he said.
Shukla added that he looked forward to more space missions, and was keen to undertake a space walk, which will require him to "train for another two years".
