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Graphic images show the ex-doctor who went on a shooting spree at a New York hospital lying dead in a corridor, wearing a white lab coat splattered with blood.

The shooter went on a gun rampage in the medical facility killing one colleague and injuring six others before turning the gun on himself.

Armed cops rushed to the Bronx Lebanon Hospital on Grand Concourse to reports of a man 'dressed in a white lab coat and carrying an M-16 assault rifle' at about 2.50pm local time.

Shocking pictures show former doctor lying on the floor and covered in blood after the rampage.

Shots were reported fired on the 16th and 17th floor of the medical facility and the gunman shot himself dead around an hour after the incident began - after a failed attempt to set fire to himself, police said.

The shooter - named by police as former employee Dr. Henry Bello, 45 - is said to have hidden the assault rifle under his white lab coat as he walked into the hospital before opening fire.

Images have also emerged of the rifle he used in his terrifying shooting spree.

(Image: NYPD)

(Image: NYPD)

It is believed that Bello had been sacked for harassing a former colleague, and had promised to 'come back and kill staff members'.

He had intended to target this colleague, but opened fire on others when he couldn't find them, it has been claimed.

"We fired him because he was kind of crazy," Dr. Maureen Kwankam, 50, told the New York Daily News.

"He promised to come back and kill us then."

The New York Daily News reported that Bello emailed their newspaper just two hours before the rampage, blaming the medical centre for ruining his dreams and his career.

He wrote: "This hospital terminated my road to a licensure to practice medicine.

"First, I was told it was because I always kept to myself. Then it was because of an altercation with a nurse."

He then claimed he was ultimately fired for threatening a co-worker.

After blasting seven hospital staff, he then appeared to try and start a fire on the 16th floor.

But the sprinklers were activated and put out the blaze.

Bello's body was found on the 17th floor near that of a woman who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Six further people were found shot on the 16th floor - five of whom police say are seriously injured 'fighting for their lives' along with a man who has a gunshot wound to his leg.

(Image: AFP) (Image: AFP)

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Police said they do not believe there was any link to terrorism.

Reports from the scene say that doctors refused to evacuate as the floor-by-floor search for the gunman unfolded - insisting on remaining instead to treat the wounded.

At least one doctor was treated inside the hospital by people who had tied an emergency fire hose as a tourniquet, a fire department official told the New York Times.

New York mayor Bill de Blasio praised the police officers "who went towards danger to protect" as well as the staff whose day "went from normal to horrifying in a matter of seconds".

"The protected their patients amidst this horrible situation," he said at a press conference at 5.30pm local time (10.30pm UK time).

(Image: JBN) (Image: NBC)

NYCityAlerts earlier tweeted that an assailant 'armed with an M-16 rifle and dressed in a while lab coat' had left a 'blood trail leading from the 2nds to the 8th floor' - all yet to be officially confirmed.

One unconfirmed later report earlier said the shooter had barricaded himself in an upper room, around the 17th floor.

(Image: AFP) (Image: AFP)

Police were carrying out floor-by-floor search before he was reported to have taken his own life.

Witness Gonzalo Carazo told CBS New York: “It was scary seeing the blood on the doctors.

“I saw blood on the floor, I saw blood on one of the doctor’s hands.”

(Image: NBC)

According to the hospital website Bello practised family medicine - and sources describe him as a former employee who had his employment only "recently terminated.”

An employee at the hospital told ABC7 New York that the 'doctor was fired by the hospital because the felt he was crazy'.

The New York Times reported that three doctors were among those shot.

An unconfirmed report said that the doctor who died was female.

(Image: NBC Boston)

Amid chaotic scenes, hospital staff including doctors and nurses posted on social media that they barricaded themselves behind doors when the hospital issued a red alert as the situation unfolded.

A patient named Toby told CBS2: “Everybody said ‘Code red, shut your doors.’

"We didn’t know what was going on, we were scared.

(Image: AFP) (Image: AFP)

"I heard people screaming. I pushed the chair to the door so nobody could come in.

"I got scared. I started crying, I didn’t know what to do.”

One woman named only on Instagram as Herry Drk, posted the picture of her barricaded inside Bronx Lebanon Hospital.

Her picture shows chairs and a bin stacked up against the door.

(Image: INSTAGRAM) (Image: INSTAGRAM)

She wrote: "What do you do when you hospital has shooter in it."

The woman posted a second picture of herself in a mirror, and originally captioned it: "Nice start of the weekend."

She then changed the caption to "stayed safe during the crisis".

The bomb squad was also said to be responding alongside a special ops force from the NYPD.

(Image: Google Maps)

An anonymous law enforcement source told the New York Times as the event unfolded: “It looks like an employee of the hospital, that’s what we’re hearing, unconfirmed, right now."

The hospital was temporarily put on lockdown while police were reported to be bringing patients out 'floor-by-floor'.

The White House has said the President is 'aware' of the shooting.

People were warned to avoid the area as the situation developed.