Man fatally shoots woman at Camden County hospital

A man shot himself and a woman at a Camden County hospital this morning, leaving the woman dead and man injured, according to authorities.

The incident was reported at Kennedy University Hospital-Stratford shortly before 10:30 a.m.

The shooting was not immediately reported to be fatal, but the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said at about 11:30 a.m. that the woman had died.

The man is being treated for a self-inflicted gunshot wound at Cooper University Hospital, where he was flown via helicopter, prosecutors said.

Their identities were not released.

A Kennedy Health System spokeswoman confirmed that the gunman was contained and said the prosecutor's office is continuing to investigate.

Initial police radio reports said a man shot himself and his wife in a patient room at the hospital, located at 18 East Laurel Road, though officials would not immediately confirm that.

Additional details about the circumstances of the shooting were not available.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene in the aftermath of the gunfire.

Gordon Bassing, 51, was on the second floor waiting to be discharged when he heard a "muffled pop-pop."

"All the sudden the whole floor went pandemonium," Bassing said. Doctors were running in all directions, shutting patients' doors.

An emergency code was announced on the loudspeakers. One nurse, Bassing said, was crying.

"People were just flying all over the place," said Bassing, who still had a white hospital band tied around his wrist.

After the shooting, Janis Sweeney, 54, Berlin, said she saw an ambulance and helicopter in the back hospital parking lot.

Paramedics unloaded someone on a stretcher into the helicopter, which took off.

The incident comes after three other shootings at area hospitals this spring and summer.

In March, a man fatally shot himself in the emergency room at Inspira Medical Center in Woodbury.

Then, in late July, a shooting occurred at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Delaware County.

In that case, a patient opened fire on a caseworker and psychiatrist, killing the social worker. The doctor then drew his own gun, wounding the patient, who is facing charges of murder and other offenses.

And earlier this month, a man shot and killed himself in a restroom at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden.

Inquirer staff writers Michael Boren and Edward Colimore contributed to this report.