Doctor In Bronx-Lebanon Shooting Threatened Violence 2 Years Ago, Witness Says

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A witness said Friday afternoon that the doctor who opened fire at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center Friday had threatened violence two years ago.

Dione Morales said she has been coming to the hospital for 17 years and knew something of the gunman – identified by police as Dr. Henry Bello – who killed one fellow doctor and wounded six before turning the gun on himself.

"He was let go because I guess they figured he was unstable. He said he was going to do this," she said.

Morales said Bello made the threat two years ago when he was "let go." She said she did not personally hear him say it, but had heard about the threat from others.

"It was said that he said he was going to kill people, two years ago when he was let go – two years," she said, "and now look what happened."

CBS2 has learned Bello resigned from the hospital in 2015 amid allegations of sexual harassment.

Morales said she was at the hospital on Friday to get her ears checked and to get a blood report for her son so he can get a summer job. She compared her situation to the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida last year where 49 people were killed.

"I know how the people in Orlando felt, because me and another girl, we were in the bathroom. My phone is dead. I couldn't call nobody. I couldn't text nobody. And now a lot of people – I've been coming here for 17 years, so I'm wondering if anybody I know got hurt."

CBS2 has learned Bello left amid claims that he harassed an employee. It was not clear whether Bello was looking for that employee or someone else, but he was looking for a specific person and he opened fire after failing to find that person.

Bello also tried to set himself on fire after the shooting, police Commissioner James O'Neill said.