CHICAGO, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- A suspected gunman was dead while a Chicago police officer and at least two others were in critical condition after a shooting at Mercy Hospital on Monday afternoon at south side of Chicago, local media ABC 7 reported.

The officer was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, said Chicago Police Department spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi.

Guglielmi tweeted that there were "reports of multiple victims" in the attack and the gunman was dead at Mercy Hospital.

Police said shots were fired both inside and outside the hospital between 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.(2030 GMT) at the hospital, located in Bronzeville.

What exactly happened at the hospital is still unclear, but one witness said a man shot a woman repeatedly in the parking lot of the hospital.

The hospital was partially evacuated, and employees and patients were taken to warming buses. About an hour after the incident, the hospital said on Twitter that police had secured the hospital "and patients are safe."