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Vigil Held For Bronx Hospital Victims; Doctor Recalls Moment Man Opened Fire

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A vigil was held Thursday night to remember the victims of a deadly Bronx hospital rampage last week, while one of the victims offered a terrifying account of the moment the shooter pulled out his gun and started firing.

As CBS2's Jessica Borg reported, hundreds of doctors, nurses and medical assistants placed handwritten notes honoring Dr. Tracy Tam, who was shot and killed last Friday by a disgruntled former colleague at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center.

"She was my doctor," one mourner said.

"She was one of us," another said.

They called it a vigil for peace to end gun violence. Dr. Marc Brown, who has been on staff at the hospital for 33 years, said he is sickened by what he's seen recently.

"I think there's too many guns floating around," he said.

The vigil also honored NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia, who was ambushed by another deranged gunman. Familia had responded to the hospital shooting.

"She was here as an officer helping to secure the facility Friday night, so the whole community is connected," said Eric Scherzer of the Committee of Interns and Residents at the hospital.

Those taking part in the vigil brought the board with the hand-written notes inside the hospital, as a reminder to patients and people who work there to stay connected.

This past Friday, Dr. Henry Bello used a high-powered assault rifle to shoot six people at the hospital.

As CBS2's Brian Conybeare reported, Dr. Hassan Tariq was shot in the wrist on Friday, when a disgruntled former employee opened fire with an assault rifle.

The doctor feared his life was over, but thanks to some brave coworkers he survived, and -- during a bedside interview -- spoke about the active shooter that he came face to face with.

"I was the first one he shot," Dr. Tariq said.

Still lying in a hospital bed, his bandaged wrist propped up in a protective foam block, Dr. Tariq described seeing Bello on the 15th floor at the hospital wearing a white lab coat.

"He just opened it, and took out the gun, and took a shot at me," he said. "Initially I thought that I was dead, because when the bullet hit me, my body when it was in a state of shock."

Dr. Tariq had been talking about a patient with the slain Dr. Tam.

"I kept hearing the sounds of shooting, and screaming," he said.

While police began storming the hospital, and panicked patients evacuated, the 32-year-old Pakistan native said the gunman then did something even more terrifying.

"I saw him pouring gasoline on the side, the smell is pretty strong, so I know what's gonna happen next, he's going to burn us," he recalled.

The sprinkler system doused the fire, and the gunman eventually took his own life.

After hiding in a bathroom, Tariq made it to the stairwell bleeding badly. That's where a group of co-workers found him.

"Everyone grabbed a leg, a hand, the shirt, we fastened the blanket around his waist because he's a tall guy and heavy, and they carried him down," hospital administrator Diana Cruz said.

They took him nine flights to an operating room where Dr. Fillip Findling helped perform emergency surgery under police guard.

"Where it, where it's not often that you see a high-powered gunshot wound to the wrist," Dr. Findling said. "It's a devastating injury."

With his worried wife at his bedside, Tariq said the rapid treatment saved his life, his hand, and his medical career.

"I came across the world to learn the art of medicine, so I'm not going to stop," Dr. Tariq said.

Dr. Tariq called his coworkers 'heroes'.

He still has a lot of pain, and needs another surgery, but he could be released from the hospital in about a week.

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