Dr. Tracy Sin-Yee Tam, 32, was standing in for a colleague on Friday and was supposed to be off work when she ended up in Dr. Henry Bello’s sights in the shooting at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital. Meanwhile, Bello’s intended victim in the Shooting rampage, 48-year-old Dr. Kamran Ahmed, is shocked to hear he was being targeted by the shooter and that Bello had always been “nice” to him.
Five members of the medical staff and one patient were wounded in the incident, while Tam and the shooter are both dead after Bello entered the hospital with a rifle concealed in his white lab coat.
Fatally-shot victim in Bronx-Lebanon Hospital shooting was standing in for a colleague
As reported by the Mail Online, Dr. Tam was a Touro College medical school graduate, who had agreed to stand in for a colleague that fateful afternoon. She was shot and killed by Bello on the 17th floor of the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital as she stood with a colleague, who was also shot but survived the incident.
Police release identity of Henry Bello’s victim: Bello’s victim, Dr. Tracy Sin-Yee Tam. The New York Police… https://t.co/tAJRAZGPYC pic.twitter.com/sH2LdYNkw8
— Pattydearie's Blog (@pattydearie) July 1, 2017
Her friend, 46-year-old Judy Beckles-Ross, told reporters that Tam could never say no when someone asked her to stand in for them.
She said she had once invited Tam to a party, but she had to decline as she was standing in for a colleague. Beckles-Ross went on to say Tam had a “good heart” and would always assist whenever anyone needed help.
Bello’s intended target was lucky to have the day off work
Investigations uncovered the fact that Bello’s intended target in his shooting spree was Dr.
Kamran Ahmed. As reported by Blasting News on Saturday, Dr. Maureen Kwankam, who works at the hospital, had spoken to the New York Post of Bello’s promise to return and shoot a resident.
Kwankam had quoted Bello as saying the resident in question would never graduate and become a doctor because he would kill him first. However, the father of three children told the media outside his Brooklyn home on Saturday night that he was shocked and had no idea why Bello wanted to kill him.
Ahmed went on to say that Bello was always nice to him, but that the doctor did have a problem with almost everyone in the hospital. A neighbor had claimed Bello had sent Ahmed threatening emails, but Ahmed declined to comment on that fact. However, he did acknowledge that he had spoken with investigators from the NYPD.
Dr. Kamran Ahmed was the intended victim in Dr. Henry Bello's shooting rampage Friday at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital. pic.twitter.com/yIois7Ydck
— Anne King (@inthemedia1) July 2, 2017
Ahmed said he attended a meeting Saturday with the staff and hospital chairman and plans to visit the wounded in the hospital Sunday. He said everyone had hugs and prayers for each other at the meeting and were supportive.
Ahmed went on to say he knew Tam and respected her, saying everyone loved the doctor and that Tam loved to teach and was good at it. He was sorry to hear she had been at the hospital covering for one of the attendings at the time of the shooting. Tam had reportedly started work at the hospital a year after Bello was forced to resign over sexual harassment claims.
No indication that Dr. Tam was an intended target
There was nothing to indicate that Tam was an intended victim of the shooter. According to a report by The New York Daily News, when Bello arrived at the hospital and was unable to find Ahmed, his intended target, he appeared to be firing randomly on the 16th floor before he spotted a staffer he did recognize at the nurses’ station and shot that person.
He then attempted to set fire to the nurses’ station, but sprinklers put out the flames.
Bello then headed up to the 17th floor where he fatally shot Tam and injured another doctor before entering a room and turning the gun on himself. Bello then made his way into the hallway, where he collapsed and died.
Five shooting victims are stable while one is still critical
Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Chief, Dr. Sridhar Chilimuri, said as of Saturday, five of the six victims of the shooting had been upgraded to stable, with one 27-year-old doctor still in a critical condition, but considered stable. That doctor had reportedly fallen and hit his head after being shot in the right knee by Bello and required “neurosurgical intervention.”