Suspect in fatal shooting inside Delaware hospital taken into custody

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The suspect in a fatal shooting Tuesday inside a Delaware hospital has been taken into custody in Philadelphia, officials said.

The 23-year-old man is expected to be charged in the shooting at Wilmington Hospital and extradited to Delaware, the city of Wilmington said in a statement.

Officials have declined to release information about the identities of the victims or the condition of a person who was shot and survived. The city said the shooting is believed to have been targeted and isolated.

ChristianaCare, which operates the hospital, said in an emailed statement it had diverted patients from its emergency department and was “taking all appropriate steps to ensure the safety of our patients, caregivers and visitors.”

A lockdown at the hospital had been lifted by Tuesday night.

At the news conference, Wilmington Mayor John Carney acknowledged the victims and hospital workers who hid as law enforcement went from room to room, clearing the building.

“If ever there is a place that should be a sanctuary for such violence, that is the place,” Carney said.

Kristen Lackford was recovering from feeding tube surgery when her hospital room door was suddenly kicked open by law enforcement with large guns and helmets, she said.

Lackford said it was scary watching the team search under her bed and in her bathroom before marking her door with a large letter “C” and never explaining why they were there.

When she finally learned what had happened and that the shooter could still be in the building, Lackford said she felt like “a sitting duck.”

“There was absolutely nothing that I could do to make myself feel safe,” she said.

Violence has been a persistent problem at hospitals across the U.S.

Wilmington, which has about 71,000 residents and is Delaware’s largest city, is about 25 miles (40 km) south of Philadelphia.