Gunman kills mother, self at U.S. hospital

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A gunman on Thursday killed his mother and himself at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the U.S. city of Baltimore, Maryland, and also shot and injured a doctor but the police earlier had said the gunman was killed by officers.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld identified the gunman as 50-year-old Warren Davis in a televised news conference. He said Davis was being briefed by a doctor about the condition of his mother, who was identified as Gene Davis, outside her hospital room before he became "emotionally distraught."

Bealefeld said Davis then pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and fired a single gunshot at the doctor, injuring him with a wound in the "lower-chest, upper abdomen" area.

The doctor is a faculty physician, according to a hospital statement, and privacy and confidentiality policies prohibit the hospital from giving further details at this time. He was undergoing surgery for an injury that was not life-threatening. Police said the doctor is expected to recover.

After the shooting, the police responded to the scene, and the gunman was last seen brandishing the gun toward the direction of his mother, who was confined to the sickbed by illness, according to Bealefeld.

The incident began at about 11:15 a.m. EDT in an eighth-floor room of the hospital's Nelson Building. At around 1:30 p.m. EDT the police tactical team was able to determine Davis was down on the floor in the room with what appeared to be a gunshot wound, and his mother was non-responsive.

The police later determined Davis and his mother were both dead, and they are treating the incident as a murder-suicide.

Baltimore city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi earlier was quoted by local NBC affiliate WBAL-TV as saying the suspect was shot to death by police tactical team, but later retrieved the statement.

As the shooting unfolded, Baltimore city police, the Fire Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Maryland State Police all responded to the scene. Tactical units were seen responding to the scene. TV images showed them moving in locations surrounding the building. There are about 40 buildings on the Johns Hopkins Hospital campus. It has about 1,000 rooms.

The shooting happened at a very busy time at the hospital. Hopkins has as many as 25,000 to 30,000 people passing through every day.