Mercy Hospital shooter worked as intern for Ald. Roberto Maldonado

Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) said Wednesday that the Mercy Hospital shooter previously worked as a summer intern at his Northwest Side aldermanic office.

“He had a very, very pleasant personality,” Maldonado said of Juan Lopez, noting that his internship lasted for about eight weeks in either 2016 or 2017.

Maldonado’s office is at 2511 W. Division St. in Humboldt Park.

The alderman said the city runs the internship program and that he didn’t personally choose Lopez or know him before he applied for the job.

“I think he was the only person who applied. You have to be a college student to apply,” he said.

“Interns are not assigned to do much of significance, they’re basically gofers for the very limited staff that we have… He had no decision making authority,” Maldonado said, adding that Lopez mostly was tasked with shuffling papers and getting coffee.

Maldonado said he played no role in helping Lopez secure a job earlier this year with the Chicago Housing Authority.

On Monday, Lopez shot his ex-fiancee, Dr. Tamara O’Neal, in the parking lot of Mercy Hospital. O’Neal was an emergency room doctor at the hospital

Lopez also shot and killed Chicago police Officer Samuel Jimenez and pharmacist Dayna Less before he was shot by police and ultimately shot himself in the head.

MORE:

• Officer Jimenez was on routine mail run when he rushed to Mercy Hospital

• Hospital shooter’s history of threats no legal hurdle to owning gun

• A father’s thank-you to Mercy Hospital’s Dr. Tamara O’Neal

• Funeral for Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez scheduled for Monday