PORTLAND, Ore. — A security guard died after being shot at an Oregon hospital on Saturday, and the suspect was later killed by police in a nearby community, authorities said.
Police responded to reports that a person with at least one firearm fired a shot inside Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.
Arriving officers searched for the shooter while working with hospital staff to treat the guard, who was transferred to another facility, where he later died.
Police from multiple agencies then tracked the suspect’s vehicle to nearby Gresham, located about 15 miles east of Portland, where the vehicle was stopped. Officers shot and killed the suspect, and no officers were injured, according to the statement.
The suspect’s name has not been released. Police were investigating a motive for the shooting.
The hospital identified the slain security guard as Bobby Smallwood. In a statement, he said another staff member was shot in the incident and is in stable condition. That person has not been identified. No patients were injured in the incident, the hospital said.
At a news conference at the hospital, Portland Police Bureau Sgt. Kevin Allen said he could not confirm anyone else was injured «in connection with the shooting» at the hospital.
The initial emergency call from hospital security reported that «someone visiting a patient verbally threatened hospital staff» prior to the shooting. OregonLive/The Oregonian reported. Witnesses said they heard three or four shots.
“Words cannot express the profound pain we are experiencing,” Kathryn Correia, president and CEO of Legacy Health, said in the hospital statement. «We offer our unwavering support to Bobby’s loved ones, to our patients in our care, to the staff at Legacy Good Samaritan, and to all of our employees and providers who are suffering today.»