Man allegedly shoots colleagues, sets himself on fire at Karak hospital

AMMAN — One person was killed and a second critically injured on Monday after a worker allegedly opened fire at a private hospital in Karak before setting himself ablaze, official sources said.

“Several people suffered from smoke inhalation as a result of the self-immolation by the suspect and were treated at the same hospital,” Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

Several media outlets reported that the suspect had an argument with the victims and “drew a gun and shot them both. He then poured a flammable substance over himself and set himself on fire”.

A second senior source told The Jordan Times that both the surviving victim, who underwent several surgeries in the same hospital, and the suspect who was treated at Karak Government Hospital were both airlifted to the King Hussein Medical Centre for further medical follow-up.

“The surviving victim’s condition is stable, although he received several bullets to his kidney and spinal cord,” the senior official source said.

The suspect, the senior source added, is in critical condition as the burns covered almost 95 per cent of his body.

The source added that all three men worked in the same lab at the hospital.

A post-mortem conducted at the Karak National Institute for Forensic Medicine by a team of pathologists, headed by Hassan Hawari, concluded that the 30-year-old victim received four bullets to his head, chest and arm, a senior medical source said.