A doctor with the Department of Veterans Affairs was shot in the neck when a patient in a wheelchair opened fire Wednesday evening in the emergency room of a V.A. hospital in West Palm Beach, Fla., the authorities said.

The suspect, Lawrence Bon, 59, had been at West Palm Beach V.A. Medical Center since early in the morning and had been “combative” with employees all day, Special Agent Michael D. Leverock, an F.B.I. spokesman, said in a phone interview. Mr. Bon began shooting a pistol at about 6:20 p.m., while he was undergoing a psychological evaluation, Agent Leverock said.

The injured doctor, whose named was not released, was shot in the neck while trying to subdue Mr. Bon, who is a double amputee. Another hospital employee was grazed by a bullet, Agent Leverock said. The employees’ injuries were not life-threatening.

Mr. Bon spent a very short amount of time in the military in the mid-1970s, Agent Leverock said, and his amputations were unrelated.