Police: 2 shot at Conn. hospital, suspect arrested

By STEPHEN SINGER

The Associated Press

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — A hospital maintenance worker shot and wounded two of his supervisors Wednesday in a dispute over a disciplinary issue, police said.

The suspect, Victor Valcarcel Sr., 65, was arrested at his house within about an hour of the shooting, New Britain Police Chief William Gagliardi said. He was being held at the New Britain police department on charges of first-degree assault and criminal intent to commit murder. He is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Superior Court.

"He apparently had a dispute with his supervisor and pulled a gun," Gagliardi said.

The two victims, Lynn Trask and Robert Barucci, were in serious but stable condition at a Hartford hospital, he said.

The shootings took place early Wednesday evening at the 200-bed Hospital for Special Care, a private nonprofit facility specializing in rehabilitation and long-term acute care.

A helicopter with a search light flew over the hospital, which was surrounded by police cars and ambulances. SWAT teams with rifles walked along the streets outside the building in New Britain, a city of about 75,000 people just southwest of the state capital, Hartford.

Police were called to the hospital at 5:53 p.m., and Gagliardi said they requested assistance from other towns because the shooter's whereabouts were initially unknown. But he said Valcarcel was well known among hospital staff and he was found and arrested without incident at his house about a mile from the hospital.

Bob Mullen of Vernon had just dropped his wife off at the hospital when police cars converged on the building.

"It was very strange," said Mullen, who found out from bystanders there had been a shooting. "Things quickly evolved."

A hospital official, Lynn Ricci, said Valcarcel had been in a dispute with a supervisor but no further details were immediately available. Officials said Valcarcel had apparently targeted the two victims and that a handgun was recovered.

It was not immediately known if Valcarcel had a lawyer. Police blocked off the entrance to his street Wednesday night and telephone calls to his house went unanswered.

In August 2010, eight men were killed at a beer distributor warehouse in Manchester by a disgruntled former employee who then killed himself. Authorities said it was the worst mass shooting in Connecticut's history.

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February 23, 2012 02:16 AM EST

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