What to Know
- A Chicago police officer and two hospital employees died in a shooting Monday at Mercy Hospital. The suspected shooter also was killed.
- The incident began with an altercation in the hospital parking lot, police said, where the suspect fatally shot a doctor he knew.
- The gunman ran into the hospital. A pharmacist was shot in an elevator, and the officer was struck in the exchange of gunfire.
A picture is emerging of a disturbing and recurring theme in Juan Lopez's troubled life just a day after authorities say he went on a fatal rampage at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center.
Jarrett Bridgeman worked with Lopez in security at Illinois Masonic Hospital.
"He would make remarks, sometimes, about women," he said.
Bridgeman told Telemundo Chicago that those remarks against women stood out. They came at a time when the gunman's first marriage was falling apart.
In a 2014 petition for an order of protection--- his soon to be ex-wife complained that Lopez slept with a pistol under the pillow and left it accessible to their child.
There were incidents where he brandished the gun when he became angry with a neighbor, and again in the face of a realtor.
She said he also sent threats via text message that he would come to his ex-wife's job and "caused a scene."
Lopez's estranged wife cited "constant infidelity and abuse."
Bridgeman said he sometimes wondered what his colleague was thinking---when he heard the views expressed about women at work.
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The comments were "crass, inappropriate, especially in a professional environment," he said.
That's what they thought at the Chicago Fire Academy too.
The academy threw Lopez out after just two months in 2014---in connection with his treatment of women there.
Internal department files say female recruits complained that he repeatedly and intentionally bumped into them.
"He was accused of bullying," spokesman Larry Merritt told NBC 5. "In the end, he didn't show up---was called to respond---and was fired."
Since last February, Lopez had worked at a Chicago Housing Authority call center---but reportedly had never given up his law enforcement dreams---still owning a number of weapons.
"Yes, he was concealed carry--and had a FOID card," Chicago police Supt. Eddie Johnson said. "I think he purchased four weapons in the last five years."
The Cook County medical examiner ended speculation about the cause of Lopez's death Tuesday. The official autopsy results show two wounds. One to the abdomen, and a single gunshot to the head, which investigators said appeared to have been self-inflicted.
