Gunman opens fire at Tennesse hospital; kills 1, self

By BETH RUCKER
A gunman took a taxi to a hospital and gave the cab driver $20 to wait, then opened fire Monday in an area where patients are released, killing one woman before committing suicide.

Two other women were injured in the shooting, and all the women were current or former employees of Parkwest Medical Center, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen IV said. The attack happened about 4:30 p.m. outside the hospital's discharge area.

Police are still trying to determine a motive, but it did not appear that any of the victims were related to the suspect or that there was any connection between them, spokesman Darrell DeBusk said. Police also don't think the suspect was ever employed at the hospital.

Cab driver Freddys Sakhleh told The Associated Press that he picked up the suspect outside an apartment building and they made several stops on the way to the hospital, including to an ATM where the gunman got $20. The man said little about himself, only that he was from Atlanta.

"He looked like, you know, angry, depressed. He was kind of itchy," Sakleh said.

Sakhleh said the man eventually got out of the cab at the hospital, handed the driver the $20 and told him to wait five minutes. He came back to the cab, pulled a gun from his waist and starting firing.

"I called 911, and I said, 'Please send some people here, this man is shooting like crazy,'" Sakhleh said. He said the gunman then shot himself in the head.

Sakhleh saw a woman bleeding. "I went berserk," he said.

The women killed was Rachel Wattenbarger, 40. Her father, Ray Wattenbarger, said she worked at the hospital for about five or six years, helping discharge the elderly. He said he would remember his daughter's smile.

The gunman's name has not been released.


Source :AP