Demonstrators with the group New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and activists from Binghamton N.Y. lie down on the sidewalk observing three minutes' silence, at Times Square in New York, the United States, April 16, 2009. Demonstrators chose to hold the event on the the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings on Thursday to try to get support for sensible guns laws. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    LOS ANGELES, April 16 (Xinhua) -- A hospital worker shot dead two people at a hospital near Los Angeles before killing himself on Thursday, authorities said.

    The gunman shot two person at the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center in Long Beach, about 64 km south of Los Angeles, before walking outside and fatally shooting himself, according to witnesses.

    Initial reports said the gunman shot and killed one person before committing suicide.

    The shooting sent patients and employees scrambling for cover in offices and bathrooms, according to witnesses.

    Police identified the gunman as 50-year-old Mario Ramirez, who came from Alhambra of Los Angeles. He worked in the hospital's pharmacy.

    The victims were identified as Kelly Hales, 56, and Hugo Bustamante, 46, according to police.

    Long Beach police chief Anthony Batts said police responded to a report of shots being fired at the hospital at noon and found the two victims shot near the entrance to the emergency room.

    Bustamante was pronounced dead at the scene. Hales was pronounced dead later, police said.

    When additional police units arrived, officers found Ramirez dead outside the north entrance to the emergency room, Batts said.

    Witnesses told reporters at the scene that Ramirez casually walked through the hospital lobby and repeatedly shot one man, then another, before taking his own life.

    "It was one of the co-workers in the pharmacy that did it himself. He worked for the pharmacy," Charity Perez, whose husband works at the hospital, told KCAL9, a local TV station.

    "He was a great wonderful guy. I mean, I've been crying, my kids and I have been crying because we all know him. He's a really nice guy. Always came to work. always helped when you needed help with medicine so I don't know what caused it."

    Perez said the shooter may have been notified recently that he was going to be laid off in June. A hospital official said there were no plans for layoffs.

    But police said the motive of the killing was still under investigation. 

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    NEW YORK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Fourteen people, including a suspected gunman, were killed and at least four others wounded in a shooting rampage that broke out in Binghamton of the U.S. state of New York on Friday morning, local authorities said in the afternoon.

    The gunman entered the building of the American Civic Association (ACA), a non-governmental agency that provides services for immigrants and refugees, and started shooting at the people inside, Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said at a press conference held nearly seven hours after the attack. Full story

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    LOS ANGELES, April 8 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed and three others critically injured after being shot overnight by an elderly gunman at a Korean religious retreat about 130 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles, authorities said on Wednesday.

    The suspect, who was subdued after he killed one woman and went on to shoot others on Tuesday evening, was among the injured and hospitalized, according to police. Full story

Two children, one woman killed in New Orleans shooting

    HOUSTON, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Two children and a young woman were killed early Saturday morning in a brutal shooting in Terry town, a community about 16 kilometers southeast of New Orleans, a local police officer said.

    The incident happened at 3:43 a.m. local time, said Col. John Fortunato, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, adding that a third child was in critical condition. Full story