Bronx Lebanon Hospital Shooting: Gunman, Victims, and Lawsuits

The Bronx-Lebanon Hospital shooting took place on June 30, 2017, when Dr. Henry Bello, a former physician at the Bronx facility who had been forced to resign two years earlier, walked into the hospital wearing a white lab coat, pulled out a concealed rifle, killed one doctor, wounded six other people, and then shot himself. The attack in the Bronx borough of New York City ranks among the deadliest hospital shootings in recent American history, and it drove years of litigation, security scrutiny, and eventually a state law on workplace violence in healthcare.

What Happened That Day

At about 12:46 p.m., roughly two hours before the attack, Bello emailed a lengthy grievance letter to the New York Daily News. It contained no explicit threat but accused the hospital of ending “my road to a licensure to practice medicine” and blamed a specific former colleague for orchestrating complaints against him. He closed with the line, “I only said in the email, it remains to be seen if my life is meaningless or disposable.”¹

Just before 3:00 p.m., Bello entered the hospital in a lab coat with identification. Concealed under 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.² The weapon had been modified with its pistol grip and flash suppressor removed to comply with New York State law.³

On the 16th floor, Bello confronted a doctor and shouted, “Why didn’t you help me when I was getting in trouble?” He missed that physician, then opened fire toward a nurses’ station and ignited a flammable liquid on the floor, triggering the sprinkler system. He climbed a stairwell to the 17th floor and shot two more physicians. In total he fired eight rounds and was still carrying ten more when he shot himself in the chest.⁴ The specific physician he had intended to kill was not at the hospital that day.⁵

The Gunman

Henry Michael Bello was 45 years old, Nigerian-born, and had attended medical school on the Caribbean island of Dominica.⁶ In 2014, the New York State Office of Professions issued him a limited permit as an international medical graduate, valid only at Bronx-Lebanon and only under supervision. The hospital hired him as a house physician in August 2014.⁷

His time on staff was short. Colleagues filed complaints describing him as aggressive, loud, and threatening. Dr. David Lazala, who had helped train him, called him “very aggressive, talking loudly, threatening people,” and another colleague, Dr. Maureen Kwankam, later said flatly, “We fired him because he was kind of crazy.”⁷⁸ In February 2015, about six months after being hired, he was allowed to resign in lieu of termination following sexual harassment allegations.⁴

Bello had a criminal history predating his medical career. He was charged in 2004 with sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment after allegedly grabbing a 23-year-old woman and carrying her away, and he pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor count of unlawful imprisonment. In 2009 he was arrested for unlawful surveillance after two women reported he had used a mirror to look up their skirts.⁷ After leaving Bronx-Lebanon, Bello reportedly warned at least three colleagues that he would return one day to 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 shooting occurred on the eve of the first anniversary of that expiration.⁹

Who Was Killed and Wounded

The doctor killed was Tracy Sin-Yee Tam, 32, a family medicine physician who normally worked at the hospital’s ground-floor clinic. She had been covering a colleague’s shift on the 17th floor when Bello reached that level. Dr. Sridhar Chilimuri, the physician-in-chief, called her “idealistic, caring and conscientious” and described her death as a “monumental loss.”¹⁰

Six others were wounded: three doctors, two medical students, and one patient. In the immediate aftermath, two physicians and one medical student were in critical condition, while three hospital staff members and the patient were reported stable.¹¹ Dr. Oluwafunmike Ojewoye, who suffered a neck injury, was discharged on July 3 and reported to have “recovered quite well.”¹²

How He Got Back Inside

The clearest security failure was mundane: Bello’s employee identification badge had never been deactivated after his 2015 resignation, and a later civil lawsuit alleged he used that old badge to enter the building on the day of the attack.¹³

Hospital leadership promised to install badge-swipe turnstiles at entrances, a visitor-tracking sticker system, and additional cameras.¹⁴ Nearly a year later the turnstiles still had not been installed. Hospital spokesperson Errol Schneer attributed the delay to “manufacturing problems and regulatory codes” and projected completion by mid-June 2018. Schneer also maintained that the hospital’s 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.”¹⁵

The Lawsuits

The attack produced two civil cases that drew sustained 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. The complaint, filed by attorney Thomas Moore of Kramer Dillof, alleged negligent hiring and negligent security. It claimed the hospital had failed to properly vet Bello when he was hired in 2014 and had failed to deactivate his identification card after he left, allowing him to enter armed with a rifle and an accelerant. The suit sought punitive damages.¹³

Justin Timperio

In March 2018, Dr. Justin Timperio, a first-year medical resident who was shot during the attack, filed a federal suit in the Southern District of New York against both Bronx-Lebanon and Upstate Guns and Ammo. The claims included negligence, negligent hiring and supervision, and negligent infliction of emotional distress against the hospital, and negligent entrustment and negligence per se against the gun dealer.¹⁶

In March 2019, Judge Paul Gardephe dismissed the gun dealer from the case, 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 of the Workers’ Compensation Law. 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 not an employee at the time and did not know Timperio.¹⁶

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

New York’s Response

The shooting fed years of legislative effort on healthcare workplace violence. After several unsuccessful attempts beginning in the 2017–2018 session, the New York State Legislature passed S5294A/A203A, signed into law on December 12, 2025, as Chapter 618. The measure 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 and threat-response plans developed with meaningful input from front-line employees and unions, and it sets minimum security staffing for emergency departments: in jurisdictions with populations of one million or more, at least one law enforcement officer or trained security person must be present in the ED at all times.²¹

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Luis R. Sepúlveda, cited a 2022 American College of Emergency Physicians survey finding that 55% of emergency room doctors had been physically assaulted at work and 85% had been seriously threatened. 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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6ABC. Doctor Accused of Sex Harassment Kills 1 at NYC Hospital
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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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Courthouse News Service. Hospital Faces Suit Over Fatal Physician Rampage
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Fierce Healthcare. Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Shooting Anti-Violence Programs Policies Security
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ABC7 New York. Still No ID Turnstiles at NYC Hospital 1 Year After Shooting
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
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New York State Senate. S5294A