Suspect Arrested After Deadly Shooting At UIC Medical Center
Updated 11/25/11 - 10:48 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A suspect was in custody Friday morning after a deadly shooting at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center.
UIC officials said Angela Bonds, 48, of Riverside, was shot and killed overnight in a hospital parking garage. She worked as a housekeeper at the hospital.
The hospital was locked down for several hours after the shooting in a search for the gunman.
The lockdown ended early Friday morning after authorities determined the suspect was not inside the hospital.
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A UIC police officer recognized the suspect while making a traffic stop at the intersection of 14th Street and Damen Avenue around 6:30 a.m. Friday, according to UIC spokesman Mark Rosati.
The officer arrested the suspect at 13th Street and Hoyne Avenue after a brief foot chase. Police also recovered the weapon apparently used in the shooting. No charges had been filed as of 10:15 a.m.
Rosati said the suspect, a 47-year-old man, has worked at the hospital for 15 years.
The suspect allegedly shot the woman around 11:40 p.m. Thursday in a parking garage in the 1800 block of West Taylor Street. She was later pronounced dead at the scene. Police were not releasing her name as of Friday morning.
Authorities put the hospital on lockdown after the shooting, believing the gunman might have headed back into the hospital after the shooting.
Hospital workers said the suspect and the victim used to be married. Both worked as housekeepers at UIC Medical Center.
A co-worker of theirs said he was right next to the victim, walking with her to the parking garage when she was shot.
Just before midnight, Bonds was heading to her car at a hospital parking garage, when she was gunned down on the second floor.
Don Cell was next to her.
"I moved out of the way. You know, I mean, I ran. I mean, I can't just stand there because I know you ain't got no intentions for me. I don't know what's going on."
Cell knew both the victim and the suspect. They all worked in the housekeeping department at UIC Medical Center.
"It happened so fast; wasn't no screaming. It's just like a blink of an eye. So, you know, we just have to deal with the situation, let the family grieve."
Immediately after the shooting, police searched for the gunman on foot and from above.
Officials alerted hospital staff and students to stay inside and avoid the area.
It was a tense five hours inside the hospital, after the facility was locked down in a search for the gunman.
One female hospital employee said that people in the hospital were told "that it was just an urgent situation and that we were advised not to leave hospital and … to stay in unit."
At about 5 a.m., police concluded the gunman was not in the hospital and UIC Medical Center resumed normal operations, but the search for the gunman continued outside the facility.
"A very large presence of Chicago and UIC police have conducted a very thorough, room by room, top to bottom, roof to basement search of the hospital – going through multiple times – and have found no sign that anyone was there who shouldn't be," Rosati said.
Around 6:30 a.m., there was a flurry of police activity near 13th Street and Hoyne Avenue.
A UIC police officer had made a traffic stop a couple blocks away and recognized the driver as the suspected gunman. After a brief foot chase, the suspect was arrested at 13th and Hoyne.
Police have also found a gun, but have yet to say if it was the one used in the shooting.
A UIC pharmacist who knew the victim said she'll always have good memories of her.
"Bubbly, nice personality, pretty smile," she said.
UIC made counselors available for hospital staff on Friday in the wake of the shooting.
