Chicago Police identified the shooter in Monday’s Mercy Hospital shooting as Juan Lopez, 32, the ex-fiance of Dr. Tamara O’Neal, who was killed with two others during the incident.
Nov. 20 (UPI) — Chicago Police identified the shooter in Monday’s Mercy Hospital shooting as Juan Lopez, 32, the ex-fiance of Dr. Tamara O’Neal, who was killed with two others during the incident.
Lopez and O’Neal, 38, were scheduled to be married Oct. 27 but the doctor called off the engagement in September, family members told WLS-TV. It was not clear Monday why the couple did not get married or if that led to the argument the two had in the parking lot of the hospital before the shooting.
O’Neal, who was wearing her hospital scrubs at the time, was attempting to walk into work when she had a verbal confrontation with Lopez, police said. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said that a friend tried to intervene before Lopez allegedly displayed a handgun.
Lopez alleged shot O’Neal and then shot at responding Chicago police officers before running into the hospital where the shooting continued. In the exchange, officer Samuel Jimenez was killed along with a pharmaceutical assistant identified as Dayna Less, 25.
Less graduated from Purdue University and was planning to get married in Indiana next year, WLS-TV reported. She was supposed to travel to Indiana Tuesday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
According to U. S. News & World Report, O’Neal was a critical care specialist at the hospital, receiving her medical degree from University of Illinois College of Medicine and has been in practice for less than three years.
„She’s one of the sweetest nieces that I have,“ O’Neal’s aunt, Delores Davis told WBBM-TV . „She was also dedicated to her church.“
Others described the emergency room doctor as „a sweetheart“ who „had a heart of gold.“
Lopez was eventually fatally shot by police during the shootout inside the hospital.
