Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center doctors, nurses recall shooting: ‘Timely action’ saved lives

At Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center on Monday, July 3, 2017, doctors and nurses share harrowing tales of trying to maintain calm amid the shooting rampage by Henry Bello on Friday. Above, Errol Schneer, center, vice president of Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center speaks to reporters. Photo Credit: Front Row Fireworks

Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center employees shared their personal tales from the scene of a shooting that left one person dead and six wounded Friday at a news conference at the hospital Monday morning.

“We do have many heroes throughout the hospital,” said Patricia Cahill, the hospital’s vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer. “Their timely action is what saved lives that day.”

On Friday, a former employee of the Bronx hospital, identified as 45-year-old Henry Bello, used an AM-15 assault rifle to open fire on the 16th and 17th floors of the hospital.

Bello shot and killed Tracy Sin-Yee Tam, 32, a family physician and Queens resident. Three other physicians were injured in the shooting on Friday, as well as two medical students and one patient, officials said.

“All of the six victims had horrendous injuries from assault weapons,” Cahill said. “Nevertheless the team that worked on them kept all of them alive.”

Donna Lee Peterkin, a nurse who was on the same floor as the shooter, described staying huddled with a patient attempting to calm her down.

“We’re all in this together,” she recalled telling the patient. “I couldn’t abandon my patient…I had to be brave for her.”

The shooter started firing inside the hospital just before 3 p.m. on Friday, putting the hospital and neighboring businesses on lockdown as police searched for him. He tried to set himself on fire, before turning the gun on himself, police said. He was found dead on the 17th floor with his rifle nearby.

As the first shots rang out, the hospital went on lockdown. Seriously injured patients were quickly moved to the emergency room and operating room.

Many people inside hid for two hours before police could escort them to safety.

Despite routine emergency drills at the hospital, “We were never prepared for SWAT teams in our operating rooms,” Dr. Sridhar Chilimuri, the hospital’s physician in chief, said of officers trying to protect patients with Bello still unaccounted for.

As of Sunday, only one survivor was in critical condition. The others were expected to recover.

Cahill said despite the “sadness” that has overcome many at the hospital, “we’re on the road to recovery.”

A hospital spokesman said there will be a candlelight vigil Thursday night organized by employee unions, interns and hospital residents.

With Laura Figueroa