Authorities say they received a call that six to seven gunshots had been fired in the Hoag Health Center at 520 Superior Ave. at about 2:45 p.m. The suspect and the victim were still inside the office when officers arrived, according to Kathy Lowe of the Newport Beach Police Department.
The victim suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body. He was declared dead at the scene. He was identified by witnesses and employees in the building as urologist Dr. Ronald Gilbert, 52, of Huntington Beach.
"The relationship between the victim and the suspect is undetermined," Lowe said.
Newport Beach police said Gilbert was shot six or seven times in the upper torso in a patient exam room on the building's second floor. Another man in the room - believed to be a patient in his 70's - was immediately taken into custody.
The suspect was arrested without incident. His name was not released. It was unclear if the suspect was a patient or an employee. A witness said the suspect was wearing street clothes as police were brought him out of the building.
"I am terrified, I just want to get home to my family," said Kristin Crotty, an employee at the building. "I don't know what's going on with the world today, I mean, schools, now I have to worry about going to work. We need to love each other, all this hate, this needs to stop."
Crotty's office is directly above the office where the shooting took place. She said she heard shots and at first thought it was construction. But the property manager told them there was an armed man in the building and to lock their doors.
The Hoag Health Center offers outpatient health services. Police are not saying which office the shooting took place. Police say there were other people in the building at the time, but no one else was injured.
Gilbert was the chief scientist behind the medical product Promescent.
"He was a great doctor," said employee Cherry Pineta of Gilbert. "I used to work with him in the O.R. years ago, very nice."
