Hospital Shooter Fired by NYC Days Before Shooting Rampage: Sources
The city conducted a background check on Bello before he was hired off a civil service list, the sources said, but that check didn't raise any red flags on his troubling hospital termination
By Melissa Russo and Ida Siegal ••
Henry Bello was fired from his city job as a case worker one week prior the shooting rampage. Ida Siegal reports.
What to Know
A gunman shot six staff members inside Bronx Lebanon Hospital, one of them fatally, before taking his own life.
The gunman has been identified as Dr. Henry Michael Bello, a former family doctor at the hospital who resigned in 2015.
Dr. Tracy Sin-Yee Tam, 32, was killed in the shooting. She normally worked in the clinic but was covering a shift for another doctor.
The former doctor who shot six people, killing a physician at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Friday was fired from a city job one week before the shooting spree, sources tell NBC 4 News.
Bello was hired by the de Blasio administration in September after resigning from the hospital. But he stopped reporting to his job with the Human Resources Administration as a case worker assisting AIDS and HIV patients on April 11, sources said. He told supervisors he was experiencing personal problems, but did not quit his job. City managers subsequently tried to reach him, but were unsuccessful. His paychecks stopped and weeks later, Bello was officially terminated on June 21.
His salary was $38,617 a year, the sources said. As a case worker, he made home visits to his clients.
The city conducted a background check on Bello before he was hired off a civil service list, the sources said, but that check didn't raise any red flags on his troubling hospital termination.
"After previously working for the City Health and Hospital Corporation, Mr. Bello was hired at HRA off of the civil service list and like all city employees was subject to a criminal background check. His check did not reveal his 2004 arrest because he pled to a lower charge that didn't show up as a disqualifying offense in a background check," said Jaclyn Rothenberg, a City Hall spokeswoman.
Howard Simmons/NY Daily News via Getty Images
Throngs of NYPD officers block off the scene of a mass shooting at the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center on Friday, June 30, 2017. Dr. Henry Bello, a former employee of the hospital, shot and injured six people before turning the gun on himself.
Courtesy Angela Bonilla
Law enforcement officials respond to the scene of a mass shooting at the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center on Friday, June 30, 2017. Dr. Henry Bello, a former employee of the hospital, shot and injured six people before turning the gun on himself.
Mary Altaffer/AP
Police help people cross the street outside the Bronx Lebanon Hospital in New York after a gunman opened fire there on Friday, June 30, 2017. The gunman, identified as Dr. Henry Bello, returned with a rifle hidden under his white lab coat, law enforcement officials said.
NBC New York
Heavily armed police at the hospital Friday evening.
Julio Cortez/AP
Employees of the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center look out a window as a New York Police vehicle is seen parked out front after reports of a shooting, Friday, June 30, 2017, in New York.
Julio Cortez/AP
A woman is escorted by officers in plainclothes near the Bronx Lebanon Hospital in New York after a gunman opened fire there on Friday, June 30, 2017. The gunman, identified as Dr. Henry Bello who used to work at the hospital, apparently took his own life after shooting six others, authorities said.
News 4 New York
Dr. Henry Bello, 45, who law enforcement sources confirm was the shooter at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital.
Police released an image of the AR-15 they say Henry Bello used in the shooting.
A mugshot of Henry Bello from his 2004 arrest for sexual assault.
NYC Mayoral Photo Office
NYC Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner O'Neill receive a briefing on the hospital shooting.
News 4 New York
Heavily armed NYPD officers gather inside Bronx-Lebanon Hospital.
Michael Noble/AP
Police gather outside Bronx Lebanon Hospital in New York after a gunman opened fire there and then took his own life on Friday, June 30, 2017. The gunman, identified as Dr. Henry Bello, a former employee of the hospital, returned with a rifle hidden under his white lab coat, law enforcement officials said.
Howard Simmons/NY Daily News via Getty Images
FDNY's Rescue Task force is seen on the scene of a mass shooting at the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center on Friday, June 30, 2017.
NBC New York
Heavily armed police officers put on gear outside of the hospital.
Julio Cortez/AP
A woman is escorted by officers in plainclothes near the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center after reports of a shooting, Friday, June 30, 2017, in New York.
Courtesy Angela Bonilla
People are seen running away from the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center on June 30, 2017, following reports of a shooting Friday evening. Five people were injured after the gunman, former hospital employee Dr. Henry Michael Bello, opened fire.
Courtesy @midnightdues
Officers head into the Bronx Lebanon Hospital after receiving reports of an active shooter Friday evening. Dr. Henry Bello shot at least six people before turning the weapon on himself.
Courtesy @midnightdues
NYPD officers respond to reports of a mass shooting at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Friday evening.
Courtesy @midnightdues
NYPD officers respond to reports of a mass shooting at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Friday evening.
Courtesy @midnightdues
NYPD officers respond to reports of a mass shooting at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Friday evening.
Courtesy @midnightdues
State police are seen responding to an incident at the Bronx Lebanon Hospital on June 30, 2017.
Firefighters mass outside Bronx-Lebanon Hospital in New York City on June 30, 2017, after an active shooter incident.
Courtesy @midnightdues
Law enforcement and emergency vehicles choked up the area around the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center after reports of a mass shooter broke on Friday evening. Dr. Henry Bello shot six people before turning the weapon on himself.
Elite NYPD tactical units responded to the shooting.
The response on scene was massive.
News 4 New York
Emergency personnel gather outside Bronx-Lebanon Hospital in preparation to treat patients following the shooting.
Police are seen on the roofs of nearby buildings as the Bronx Lebanon Hospital is cleared following reports of a shooting.
Law enforcement respond to reports of a shooting at the Bronx Lebanon Hospital.
Joseph Frederick/AP
In this image taken from video, emergency personnel converge on Bronx Lebanon Hospital in New York, after a gunman opened fire there on Friday, June 30, 2017.
News 4 New York
The husband of a woman trapped in the hospital described a chaotic scene and a scramble to avoid the shooter inside the building.
In 2004, the doctor pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment, a misdemeanor, after a 23-year-old woman told police Bello grabbed her. He was arrested again in 2009 on a charge of unlawful surveillance after two different women reported he was trying to look up their skirts with a mirror. That case was eventually sealed.
Bello, 45, worked at Bronx Lebanon Hospital in August 2014 as a house physician but was forced out in February 2015 in lieu of termination.
The latest termination was another setback for Bello, who had recently moved out of a men's homeless shelter on 30th Street in March and into his own apartment.
He returned to the hospital Friday afternoon wearing a white doctor's coat to conceal an AM-15 rifle and using his old ID. He bought the gun at a store upstate in Schenectady.
Mayor De Blasio speaks at a press conference outside the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Friday afternoon.
A senior law enforcement official said Bello asked for a specific doctor on the 16th floor. When he was told that doctor wasn't there, he became angry and started shooting at everyone.
The doctor who was killed, Tracy Sin-Yee Tam, 32, usually worked in the clinic but was covering a shift at the main hospital as a favor to someone else.
The six others who were injured — a patient, two medical students and three physicians — largely suffered gunshot wounds to the head, chest and abdomen. One physician remained in critical condition and the rest were stable, officials said Saturday.
