Long Beach Memorial Medical Center - Shooting

Shooting

Hospital employee and pharmacy technician Mario Ramirez, 50, shot and killed two hospital employees before turning the gun on himself April 16, 2009. A source said the gunman shot a pharmacy manager several times in the head and then ran through the hospital wielding at least two guns, searching for a second man. The gunman eventually caught up with that man and shot him multiple times, the source said. The source said the gunman then told onlookers to go away, and fatally shot himself .

Charity Perez, 31, said her husband, who works at the hospital as a valet, knew the gunman, who also worked at the hospital. “He was a great and wonderful guy,” she said. ”He was a nice guy and was always willing to help you.” She said the gunman, whom she refused to identify, was married and had children. “He heard that there were going to be layoffs in June,” Perez said of the gunman, but said she did not know whether that was the motive for the shootings. Perez said her husband told her that the gunman shot two people, including his supervisor twice in the face, and eventually shot himself. She said the shootings took place in the rear of the hospital’s pharmacy. The gunman was scheduled to work a noon shift, she said.