Bronx Lebanon Hospital Shooting: Victims, Lawsuits, and Law

The Bronx-Lebanon Hospital shooting took place on June 30, 2017, when Dr. Henry Bello, a former physician at the Bronx hospital who had been forced to resign two years earlier over sexual harassment allegations, walked back into the building with a rifle hidden under a white lab coat, killed one doctor, wounded six other people, and then killed himself. It was one of the deadliest hospital attacks in recent U.S. history and set off years of litigation, a reckoning over hospital security, and a new state law on healthcare workplace violence.

What Happened That Afternoon

Just before 3:00 p.m., Bello entered Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center wearing a white lab coat and carrying identification. Concealed beneath the coat was an AM-15 rifle he had legally purchased ten days earlier, on June 20, from Upstate Guns and Ammo in Schenectady, New York.¹ The weapon had been modified to comply with New York law, with its pistol grip and flash suppressor removed.² A later civil complaint alleged that Bello used his old hospital identification badge, never deactivated after his resignation, to get inside.³

On the 16th floor, Bello confronted a doctor and shouted, “Why didn’t you help me when I was getting in trouble?” He fired and missed, then turned toward a nurses’ station and shot several people. He also ignited a flammable liquid on the floor, triggering the hospital’s fire suppression system. He then climbed to the 17th floor and shot two more physicians. In all, he fired eight rounds and was carrying another ten bullets when he shot himself in the chest.⁴ The specific physician he had apparently come for was not in the building that day.⁵

About two hours before the attack, Bello had emailed a long letter to the New York Daily News. He made no explicit threat but laid out his grievances in detail. “This hospital terminated my road to a licensure to practice medicine,” he wrote, accusing a particular colleague of orchestrating complaints against him and blocking his medical permit. Near the end: “I only said in the email, it remains to be seen if my life is meaningless or disposable.”⁶

Who Henry Bello Was

Henry Michael Bello, 45, was a Nigerian-born family medicine physician who had attended medical school in Dominica.⁷ In 2014, the New York State Office of Professions issued him a limited permit as an international medical graduate, effective July 1, 2014, authorizing him to treat patients and prescribe only at Bronx-Lebanon and only under supervision of licensed physicians.⁸ The hospital hired him as a house physician that August.

He lasted roughly six months. Colleagues filed complaints describing him as aggressive, loud, and threatening.⁵ Dr. David Lazala, who had trained him, called him “very aggressive, talking loudly, threatening people.”⁸ In February 2015, following sexual harassment allegations, he was allowed to resign in lieu of termination.⁴ Dr. Maureen Kwankam later put it this way: “We fired him because he was kind of crazy.”⁹

Bello also had a criminal history. In 2004 he was charged with sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment after allegedly grabbing a 23-year-old woman and carrying her away; he pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor unlawful imprisonment charge. In 2009 he was arrested for unlawful surveillance after two women said he had tried to look up their skirts with a mirror.⁸ When New York City’s Human Resources Administration later hired him as a probationary caseworker in September 2016, its background check did not flag the 2004 case because the misdemeanor plea was not a disqualifying offense.⁵

After he left the hospital, Bello reportedly told at least three former colleagues he would come back someday and kill them. Hospital officials later said they were unaware of those threats.⁵ His limited medical permit expired on July 1, 2016, and was never renewed. The attack came on the eve of the first anniversary of that expiration.¹⁰

Who Was Killed and Wounded

Dr. Tracy Sin-Yee Tam, 32, was the only person killed other than Bello. A family medicine physician who normally worked at the hospital’s ground-level clinic, she was covering a colleague’s shift on the 17th floor when Bello reached that level. Dr. Sridhar Chilimuri, the hospital’s physician-in-chief, called her “idealistic, caring and conscientious” and her death a “monumental loss.”¹¹

Six others were wounded: three doctors, two medical students, and one patient.⁴ In the immediate aftermath, two physicians and one medical student were in critical condition, with three staff members and the patient reported stable.¹² Dr. Oluwafunmike Ojewoye, who suffered a neck injury, was discharged on July 3 and reported to have “recovered quite well.”¹³

The Security Failures

The most pointed criticism of the hospital focused on how Bello got in at all. His employee ID badge had never been deactivated after his 2015 resignation, and a civil complaint later alleged he used it to enter.¹⁴ Hospital leadership promised to install badge-swipe turnstiles at entrances, add a visitor-tracking sticker system, and expand camera coverage.¹⁵ Nearly a year after the attack, the turnstiles still were not in place. Spokesperson Errol Schneer attributed the delay to “manufacturing problems and regulatory codes” and projected completion by mid-June 2018. He also maintained that security had been adequate at the time of the shooting, saying he was “very confident that the security that needed to be in place was in place.”

The Lawsuits

Two civil cases came out of the shooting and drew particular attention.

Wildanio Guareno

In June 2018, Wildanio Guareno, a patient shot in the leg during the attack, sued Bronx-Lebanon Hospital in Bronx County Supreme Court. Represented by attorney Thomas Moore of Kramer Dillof, Guareno alleged negligent hiring and negligent security. The complaint claimed the hospital failed to conduct a proper background investigation on Bello in 2014 and failed to deactivate his ID card after he left, allowing him back inside with a rifle and an accelerant. The suit sought punitive damages.³

Justin Timperio and the Court of Appeals Ruling

In March 2018, Dr. Justin Timperio, a first-year medical resident wounded in the attack, filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against both the hospital and the gun dealer that sold Bello the rifle. He alleged negligence, negligent hiring and supervision, and negligent infliction of emotional distress against the hospital, and negligent entrustment and negligence per se against the dealer.¹⁶

Judge Paul Gardephe dismissed the dealer in March 2019, citing federal protections for firearms sellers, but let the claims against the hospital proceed.¹⁷ The hospital and its workers’ compensation carrier then argued that because Timperio was injured on the job, his claims were barred by the exclusivity provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Law, which generally bar employees from suing their employers for workplace injuries. A Workers’ Compensation Law Judge agreed in September 2020.¹⁸ The Appellate Division reversed in February 2022, finding no employment-related connection between the random attack and Timperio’s duties, since Bello was no longer an employee and did not know him.¹⁶

On May 16, 2024, the New York Court of Appeals ruled in Matter of Timperio v. Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, reversing the Appellate Division and reinstating the Workers’ Compensation Board’s original decision. The court relied on the statutory presumption in Workers’ Compensation Law § 21(1): if an injury occurs “in the course of” employment, it is presumed to arise “out of” that employment. That presumption can be overcome only by substantial evidence that the assault was motivated by purely personal animosity toward the victim, and because Bello and Timperio had no relationship, no such evidence existed. The court rejected the Appellate Division’s view that the claimant had to affirmatively show a nexus between the assault and the job.¹⁹ The practical effect was to confine Timperio’s recovery to workers’ compensation benefits, potentially barring his separate federal negligence suit against the hospital.²⁰

The New York Workplace Violence Law

The shooting added weight to a years-long push in Albany to address violence in healthcare. After several failed attempts beginning in 2017–2018, the Legislature passed S5294A/A203A, signed into law on December 12, 2025, as Chapter 618. The statute amends the Public Health Law to require every general hospital and nursing home to establish a workplace violence prevention program within one year. It mandates annual safety assessments, threat-response plans developed with meaningful input from front-line employees and unions, and minimum security staffing in emergency departments. Hospitals in jurisdictions of one million or more people must have at least one law enforcement officer or trained security person present in the emergency department at all times.²¹

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Luis R. Sepúlveda, pointed to a 2022 American College of Emergency Physicians survey finding that 55% of emergency room doctors had been physically assaulted and 85% had been seriously threatened at work. The bill passed the Senate 58–1 and cleared the Health Committee 13–0.²¹

1
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2
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3
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CNN. New York Hospital Shooting
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CBS News. Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Shooting Gunman Henry Bello Had a Problem With Almost Everybody
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NBC News. Bronx Hospital Shooting Disgruntled Doctor Sent Email Rampage
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The New York Times. Shooting Bronx Hospital Henry Bello
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6ABC. Doctor Accused of Sex Harassment Kills 1 at NYC Hospital
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BBC. World US Canada
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PIX11. Who Is Dr. Henry Bello
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Becker’s Hospital Review. 4 Things to Know About Dr. Tracy Sin-Yee Tam
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ABC News. Victims Remain Critical Condition Deadly Bronx Hospital Shooting
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DNAinfo. Bronx-Lebanon Shooting Gunman Hospital
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ABC7 New York. Still No ID Turnstiles at NYC Hospital 1 Year After Shooting
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Fierce Healthcare. Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Shooting Anti-Violence Programs Policies Security
16
Times Union. Court Ruling Allows Suit Versus Bronx Hospital
17
New York Post. Shooting Victim’s Lawsuit Against Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Will Move Forward
18
FindLaw. In re: the Claim of Justin Timperio, No. 46
19
NY Courts. Matter of Timperio v Bronx-Lebanon Hosp., 42 NY3d 307
20
NY Workers’ Compensation Board. Timperio COA Decision
21
New York State Senate. S5294A