‘Depressed’ Woman Kills Doctor, Self at Hospital

A woman who fatally shot a cardiologist in a hospital office and then killed herself suffered from depression, police said Wednesday.

Colleen Mitchell, 51, had held a series of temporary jobs at Massachusetts General Hospital before landing a permanent position in December in the laboratory where Dr. Brian McGovern worked.

Mitchell and McGovern, 47, were found in a small office inside the lab after shots were heard in the hospital Tuesday.

Police said Mitchell was suffering from depression and shot McGovern, who was also an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, several times before shooting herself. A handgun was found in the office, but police would not say who owned the gun or release any other details of the investigation.

Neither police nor hospital officials would comment on a possible motive.

Mitchell started working at the hospital in May 2001, working in different temporary assignments, mainly secretarial work. In September, she took a temporary assignment in the lab, and three months later accepted a full-time job there doing patient intake and secretarial tasks.

In a memo to hospital staff members on Wednesday, Jeff Davis, vice president of human resources, said there was nothing in Mitchell’s personnel record indicating signs of trouble.

“Those who supervised her work have described her as a ‘delight to work with,’ ” Davis said in his memo.

McGovern had worked at the hospital for more than 20 years, specializing in treating patients with disturbances of the heart rhythm.

He was married to another physician and had two young daughters.