Cancer patient gunned down at D.C. hospital

A shooting victim is taken away

February 5, 1998
Web posted at: 9:36 p.m. EST (0236 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A gunman shot five people in the lobby of the Washington Cancer Institute on Thursday, though apparently only one victim -- a cancer patient -- was the intended target, police said. The cancer patient was killed.

The gunman waited in the hospital lobby until his intended victim arrived, about 11 a.m. He then began shooting, wounding at least four others, before he fled.

"He stood over his intended victim and fired multiple times," said Washington police Sgt. Joe Gentile. "It does not appear to have been a random act of violence. The gunman was waiting inside for the patient."

The dead man's name was being withheld pending family notification. He was a 24-year-old cancer outpatient at the institute, which is at the Washington Hospital Center near Howard and Catholic universities in the city's northwest quadrant.

Among those suffering minor injuries were a 77-year-old volunteer who was shot in the leg and a 74-year-old patient who suffered a graze wound to the head. A 25-year-old employee was grazed on the head and a 47-year-old was treated and released.

Washington Cancer Institute

An armed security guard was within 100 feet of the shooting but did not have time to react, officials said.

Hospital President Ken Samet said the facility had already begun reviewing security measures after the January 13 slaying of 50-year-old Sheryl Crandell, an administrator at a hospital in nearby suburban Maryland.

"This is not a lockup," Samet said. "This is not the Pentagon. ... Hospitals by definition have to have open access to treat patients."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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