Gunman at Alabama Hospital Kills One and Injures Another, Then Kills Himself

A gunman opened fire at a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday night, killing an employee and critically injuring another before turning the gun on himself, the police said.

Officers responded to calls of an “active shooter” just before 7 p.m. at UAB Hospital-Highlands and found two men with gunshot wounds and another man who had shot and killed himself, the authorities said. One victim was treated at that hospital, while the other was taken to the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s main hospital about a mile away, the police said.

One of the victims was pronounced dead about 10 p.m. That man’s name was not immediately released, but a university official said he worked in the UAB Hospital system.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce to you this evening the passing of one of our colleagues,” the university official, Anthony Patterson, wrote in an email to hospital employees late Wednesday.

Although the shooting occurred on the university’s campus, the Birmingham Police Department was taking the lead in the investigation. Lt. Peter Williston said officers would stay through the night at the hospital, which announced that surgeries would not be performed there Thursday.

Williston said the police were reviewing employee records to determine whether the gunman was also a hospital employee.

The shooting came at the end of a day in which thousands of students across the United States walked out of their schools at 10 a.m. to protest gun violence. While some school districts warned of repercussions for skipping class, Birmingham school officials encouraged students to participate in “the power of peaceful protest.”