THE BRONX — An online fundraising campaign launched to cover funeral costs for the physician fatally shot by a gunman inside Bronx-Lebanon Hospital had raised more than $23,000 by Monday morning.
Dr. Tracy Sin-Yee Tam, 32, was covering a shift for a colleague inside the hospital when Henry Bello, a former Bronx-Lebanon employee, shot her dead on the 16th floor around 3 p.m. Friday, police and friends said.
"She was an attending physician who was on the 16th floor supervising the residents and students," Dr. Sridhar Chilimuri, the hospital's physician in chief, said at a news conference Monday morning.
"She primarily works in the clinic but someone was sick, and they asked her to cover. That is her nature — she always said 'Yes' and comes forward. It's so unfortunate she was there at the wrong time."
Bello wounded six others in the shooting rampage with a recently purchased AR-15 assault rifle, police said.
He then used gasoline and matches to start fires at the nurses stations on the 16th and 17th floors that were extinguished by sprinklers. He ultimately tried to set himself ablaze before turning the gun on himself, a law-enforcement source said.
Grief counselors were stationed inside the hospital auditorium Monday morning for employees, officials said.
“Tracy Tam was an exceptional and an extremely compassionate physician,” Ahmed Rezk, who said he attended medical school with her, wrote on the GoFundMe page.
“She touched lives of many. She worked extra hours without incentive just to hold hands of patients that are about to pass or just to talk to them and listen to their needs.”
Five of the six others wounded were in stable condition Saturday while one remained in critical condition, according to reports.
Meanwhile, Bello’s body still hadn’t been claimed at the Medical Examiner’s Office as Monday morning, spokeswoman Julie Bolcer said.
A vigil will be held outside the hospital Thursday night for Tam and the other victims.
