Two people are dead and four people are in critical condition, including a police officer, after a shooting at a hospital in Chicago on Monday afternoon (local time).
The 32-year-old male suspect has been shot and killed, according to reports.
Police said shots were fired both inside and outside Chicago's Mercy Hospital between 3pm and 3:30pm local time, ABC 7 reports.
Earlier, Anthony Guglielmi, chief communications officer for the Chicago Police Department, said on Twitter that an officer had been shot and was in a critical condition.
A department spokesman issued a statement on Twitter on Monday saying officers were responding after shots were fired near Mercy Hospital on the city's South Side.
Mr Guglielmi said officers were searching the hospital.
Television footage showed several people, including some wearing white coats, walking through a car park with their arms up.
"You can't go to the hospital, you can't go to school, you can't go to church, you can't go to the grocery store. You cannot go anywhere," a local woman told CBS News.
"You just never know when you walk into a place if you're going to come out alive."
Witness Steven White told CNN that he was in the hospital's emergency room when he saw the suspect firing at police.
"We heard some shots so we all ran to the emergency window, we see this guy out there, military style, shooting at the police - pow, pow, pow," he said.
Twitter has exploded with support for the victims, with many expressing frustration about gun control reform in the US.
"I'm not even surprised by these reports anymore, are any of you?" one person commented. "Someone please remind me as to why we aren't trying to create more restrictions or requirements for the gun industry?"
"Chicago is one of my favourite places to visit, the fact there was a shooting at a hospital there breaks my heart," another wrote.
Reuters / Newshub.
