2 dead, 2 hurt in shooting at Ga. hospital; police say shooter's mom had died there

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AP Photos GACOL101-103

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) -- A man went to a west Georgia hospital where his mother had died and shot three people, killing two, before police shot and wounded him, authorities said.

A male nurse was among the dead at Doctors Hospital, and a secretary was in critical condition, Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren said. Both were shot on the hospital's fifth floor.

A plainclothes officer responding to a call of shots fired saw man leaving the hospital shoot a bystander in the head, Boren said. The officer followed the suspect to another part of the parking deck, where the suspect opened fire on police, the chief said.

The man was in satisfactory condition, police said.

The shooter's name was not released. His mother apparently died at the hospital of natural causes, the chief said.

Columbus, a city of 190,000 on the Alabama line, is adjacent to Fort Benning, home to the Army's basic training program.