Shooting at Pennsylvania medical clinic leaves two wounded, suspect dead

(Reuters) -A gunman on Thursday wounded two people, including his former girlfriend, in the parking lot of a Pennsylvania medical clinic before killing himself, local police said.

The suspect was identified as Xavier Starks and victims as Stacie Vereen and Travis Ritter, who were colleagues at the clinic, according to a release from the Wyomissing Police Department. It did not provide their ages or occupations.

Starks came to the medical office to confront Vereen after the couple broke up, according to a media release. When she arrived at her place of work, an argument ensued.

Ritter attempted to intervene when Starks pulled out a handgun and shot Vereen in the face or neck, Police Chief John Phillips told reporters. Starks then shot Ritter in the chest and then turned the gun on himself, police said.

“One of the victims was in a relationship with the shooter. The other was just an innocent bystander that was coming to work and then trying to help the coworker,” he said.

The chief said police previously had “contact” with Starks, without specifying the nature of the contact.

Officers responded to reports of the shooting about 8:30 a.m. behind the Berks Center for Digestive Health in Wyomissing, about 60 miles (100km) northwest of Philadelphia’s city center.

The victims were transported to Reading Hospital in nearby Reading by ambulance, a representative of the hospital said.

Vereen was later taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia where her status is unknown, according to police. Ritter is in critical but stable condition.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Mark Porter and Lincoln Feast.)