Police apprehends an armed man at VA hospital
An armed man opened fire inside and outside the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. Police arrested the man after 30 seconds of the shooting. FBI reported that the police arrested the man without firing a bullet. A police officer heard the gunfire at the entrance of the hospital at about 2:18 pm. He rushed over and arrested the man, according to the reports.
No one was injured in the incident. Jeffrey Sallet, the special agent in charge of Chicago field office of FBI, said, “Nobody was hurt, there was nobody injured, there was nobody hit.” It was a great achievement of the police to avoid such a tragedy. Sallet added, “We avoided tragedy here in the city of Chicago today.” He did make any comment when he was asked about the number of rounds fired by the man.
The motive of the arrested man is also not clear yet. The man was taken to the Area Central headquarters where he was interviewed by the detectives. The hospital is under the operation of the Department of Veteran Affairs. The man will face the charges at the federal level. The US attorney’s office for the Northern District of Illinois was evaluating the charges to be filed against the armed man, Sallet said.
The hospital’s acting director, Lori Lohar, said that the man was believed not to be a veteran. The suspect also has a criminal history and he was associated with several addresses, according to the spokesman of the Chicago Police Department. Another gunman opened the fire at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center nine months ago. A doctor was killed in that incident and the gunman was also killed.
Police have taken the man into custody and he has been taken to the Area Central headquarter. He will face the charges at the federal level and the attorney’s office work on filing charges. The man was involved in criminal acts in the past as well. The detectives are investigating the motive behind the shooting by the man. The man opened the fire with an assault rifle.
