Gunman kills one, self at hospital

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A gunman took a taxi to a hospital and gave the cab driver $20 to wait, then opened fire Monday in an area where patients are released, killing one woman and injuring two others before killing himself.

All the victims were female and current or former employees of Parkwest Medical Center, Knoxville police Chief Sterling Owen IV said. The attack happened about 4:30 p.m. outside the hospital’s discharge area.

Police are still trying to determine a motive, but it did not appear that any of the victims were related to the suspect or that there was any connection between them, spokesman Darrell DeBusk said. Police also don’t think the suspect was ever employed at the hospital.

Cab driver Freddys Sakhleh told the Associated Press that he picked up the suspect outside an apartment building and they made several stops on the way to the hospital.

The driver said the man said little about himself, only that he was from Atlanta.

“He looked like, you know, angry, depressed. He was kind of itchy,” Sakleh said.

Sakhleh said the man eventually got out of the cab at the hospital, handed the driver the $20 and told him to wait five minutes.

He then came back to the cab, pulled a gun from his waist and starting firing.

“I called 911, and I said, ‘Please send some people here, this man is shooting like crazy,’ ” Sakhleh said. He said the gunman then shot himself in the head.

Two of the victims were taken to the trauma center at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. The family of Ariane Reagan Guerin, a 26-year-old employee at Parkwest, said they were hearing promising information about her prognosis. The family of the other victim, Nancy Chancellor, said she was doing well.

The women killed was Rachel Wattenbarger, 40.

The gunman’s name has not been released.