Doctor and gunman dead in shooting incident at VA clinic at William Beaumont Army Medical Center
The FBI will be handling the investigation into a deadly shooting inside a Veterans Affairs Clinic at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, according to officials on post.
“This is in active criminal investigation, but everything is under control and there is no immediate threat to Fort Bliss or the surrounding community,” said Fort Bliss Commander, Major General Stephen Twitty.
Twitty said the gunman shot and killed one person inside the clinic. A spokesman with U.S. Congressman Beto O’Rourke’s office told ABC-7 the victim was a doctor.
Twitty said the alleged shooter is dead, but would not confirm if the shooter died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound or if a law enforcement officer killed the shooter.
Reports of an active shooter at the clinic were first reported at about 3:10 p.m. Tuesday. ABC-7 spotted several helicopters hovering around the hospital. El Paso and military police immediately set up a perimeter around the medical center.
Hospital and clinic employees, as well as patients, were evacuated into the parking lot. They boarded several white buses brought to the hospital’s parking in order to stay warm.
“This has been a model of how to respond and this is nothing surprising to me,” said Douglas Lindquist, the FBI Special Agent in Charge in El Paso,”This is something I’ve seen since I got to El Paso. Our (law enforcement) partners work very well together.”
Lindquist said area law enforcement agencies had been preparing to deal with an active shooter incident. “Unfortunately, we had to exercise that today,” he said, adding agents will be interviewing hundreds of potential witnesses.
This VA clinic will be closed Wednesday as the investigation continues. However, it will have normal operations at its East El Paso and Las Cruces clinics, according to officials.
