Fired Alaska Hospital Worker Shot Dead After Shooting Ex-Bosses

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A worker returned a day after being fired from an Alaska hospital and shot his ex-supervisors Wednesday, killing one and critically injuring another.

Mike Webb, 55, died about two hours after the gunman fired multiple shots just before 10 a.m, inside Central Peninsula General Hospital in Soldotna, spokeswoman Bonnie Nichols said.

Troopers did not name the gunman, but Nichols identified him as 48-year-old Joseph Marchetti. Nichols said Marchetti also was shooting randomly through the main corridor before he left the hospital.

"He shot up a good portion of the building," she said.

Marchetti had worked in the hospital's imaging department until he was fired Tuesday, Nichols said.

Marchetti moved to Alaska a year ago. He previously worked at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, according to Nichols.

Troopers said the assailant had a rifle and a handgun. Afterward, troopers set up a perimeter outside the hospital to contain the suspect, who was ultimately shot by troopers, spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

Three troopers fired their weapons, Peters said. Under department policy, the officers will be placed on administrative leave. Their names will be released Thursday.

Nichols identified the other shooting victim as 57-year-old Margaret Stroup.

Stroup was shot multiple times in the chest and was in surgery, Nichols said. Stroup was listed in critical but stable condition.

Nichols said the victims are the former supervisors of Marchetti, who recently lost his job in the imaging department. Webb was the hospital's imaging director and Stroup is the imaging services director.

Marchetti picked up his last paycheck on Tuesday, Nichols said. She didn't know why his employment was terminated.

The shooting, Nichols said, "obviously had something to do with him losing his job."

Local schools were briefly placed in lockdown after the shooting.

Soldotna is about 75 miles southwest of Anchorage.

In Omaha, Marchetti worked at the medical center from October 2001 to October 2007.

Nebraska Medical Center spokeswoman Andrea McMaster said Marchetti decided to leave the job on his own in 2007 because he was moving.

McMaster said Marchetti did information technology work at the hospital. He helped maintain databases for the hospital's cardiac service line.

No other details about Marchetti's work at the Nebraska Medical Center were immediately available, McMaster said.