A Chicago doctor is dead after her ex-fiancé showed up to her job demanding she return her engagement ring.
As ABC News reports, Dr. Tamara O’Neal had just arrived at Mercy Hospital in Chicago, Illinois for work on Monday afternoon when her former lover Juan Lopez, showed up to get back the engagement ring he’d bought her.
A friend of O’Neal’s tried to intervene before Lopez pulled out his gun and shot his former lover multiple times.
Whenever Dr. Tamara O’Neal saw a patient in the ER, she asked about dangers in the home, including domestic violence. Her death at the hands of her ex-fiance is a reminder that doctors often face the same challenges in life as the people they treat. https://t.co/i9StG1rKT4 pic.twitter.com/Ps8I1FaRvQ
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) November 20, 2018
The 32-year-old gunman immediately began exchanging fire with officers as they arrived at the scene. During the shootout, Lopez reportedly ran inside the hospital where he, again, opened fire and killed 25-year-old pharmaceutical assistant Dayna Less.
Lopez then ran back outside of the hospital and began shooting at a police vehicle protecting O’ Neal’s Body from further harm. Officer Samuel Jimenez, 28, chased Lopez back inside of the hospital where the gun battle continued between the two; neither survived.
Lopez was struck in the abdomen during the exchange, but officials say he ultimately died from a self-inflicted shot to the head.
Officer Jimenez had been a member of the Chicago police department for less than two years. He leaves behind a wife and three young children.
Gun Violence is not just a statistic.
These people are fathers daughters, sisters……Last night we lost:
Tamara O’Neal – A Doctor
Samuel Jimenez – A Police Officer
Dayna Less – A Pharmacy Resident
Are you really still asking if @ThisIsOurLane #ThisIsOurLane #MercyHospital pic.twitter.com/0VZ3B41fAM
— Joseph Sakran (@JosephSakran) November 20, 2018
During a press conference Monday night, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said:
“The City of Chicago lost a doctor, pharmaceutical assistant and a police officer, all going about their day, all doing what they love.”
According to ABC News, Lopez was reportedly kicked out of the Chicago Fire Academy in 2014 for harassment. He and O’Neal were planning to marry in October, but the 38-year-old doctor ended the relationship in September.
O’Neal’s father, Thomas O’Neal, said of her daughter’s relationship with Lopez:
“She saw something in the relationship that did not line up with the way she wanted to live the rest of her life.”
According to Heavy, O’Neal volunteered as a mentor to at-risk youth and as an after-school tutor while she attended Purdue College. People have began sharing their best memories of O’Neal across social media.
John Purakal, an emergency room physician, treated his former colleague O’Neal at the University of Chicago Medicine following the shooting. He shared his thoughts on Twitter:
I knew her, trained with her, saved lives with her and tonight, tried to save her life. Tonight, I broke down in front of my coworkers when we lost her, and tonight I held hands with her mother in prayer. Tonight, we lost a beautiful, resilient, passionate doc. Keep singing, TO. pic.twitter.com/NLQpX1rZIn
— John Purakal, MD (@JohnPurakal) November 20, 2018
He said:
I knew her, trained with her, saved lives with her and tonight, tried to save her life. Tonight, I broke down in front of my coworkers when we lost her, and tonight I held hands with her mother in prayer. Tonight, we lost a beautiful, resilient, passionate doc. Keep singing, TO.
Her story not only touched those that knew her, but others as well. One user tweeted about holding male abusers responsible for their actions.
R.I.P. to Dr. Tamara O’Neal. Women in abusive relationships get called stupid for staying and constantly get told to “just leave”. She did & now she’s dead. So what now? We finally gonna start holding MEN accountable for the danger we put women in, or are we still deflecting?
— Scarlett JoHandsome (@TheThrillmonger) November 20, 2018
He tweeted:
R.I.P. to Dr. Tamara O’Neal. Women in abusive relationships get called stupid for staying and constantly get told to “just leave”. She did & now she’s dead. So what now? We finally gonna start holding MEN accountable for the danger we put women in, or are we still deflecting?
As ABC News reports, Dr. Patrick Connor, the emergency department director at Mercy, noted the irony of such “senseless” violence in a “healing space.”
