MONTEGO BAY, St James – Operations at Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in St James were disrupted Tuesday morning when a male patient was fatally shot by a licensed firearm holder who operates a shop on the compound of the facility.

The man who was killed was identified as 28-year-old Nicoy Barrett.

“I was told that there was a tragic incident which occurred early this morning where a person had gone to one of the private shops here and an incident occurred and he was shot,” Derek Harvey, chief medical officer at CRH, said Tuesday

According to a woman who claimed to be an eyewitness, the shooting occurred after the patient went berserk and hurled a stone into a window of the shop and broke a pane of glass. The shop is operated by the licensed firearm holder.

“I don”t know what happened but he started to throw stones at the shop and broke out the glass them over there when he got into an altercation with the man and was shot. I can’t tell you anything else that happened,” the woman, who declined to give her name, told the Jamaica Observer.

Harvey said the incident left patients and workers shaken.

“Trauma in any area will affect people. Some people were aware that the gentleman was a patient, so I know some of them were traumatised,” Harvey said.

The St James police are investigating.