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By Carla K. Johnson and Don Babwin

Associated Press

CHICAGO -- From Chicago to Afghanistan, Dr. Jerry Umanos dedicated his service to poor children.

The pediatrician was among three Americans killed when an Afghan security guard opened fire Thursday at a Kabul hospital. He was volunteering in Afghanistan to train young doctors, periodically returning to Chicago to work in a Christian clinic on the city's southwest side.

Umanos "was always working to help inner-city kids and trying to help out any needy, poor kids anywhere," said Jeff Schuitema, Umanos' brother-in-law.

The fatal shootings at Cure International Hospital in western Kabul were the latest in a string of deadly attacks on foreign civilians in the Afghan capital this year. An American nurse also was wounded in the hospital shootings.

"Our families and friends have suffered a great loss, and our hearts are aching," said Jan Schuitema, Umanos' wife, from outside the family home in Chicago on Thursday afternoon. "We don't hold any ill will towards Afghanistan in general or even the gunman who did this. We don't know what his history is."

In addition to the pediatrician being killed, "also two others who were here to meet him, and they were also American nationals," said Afghanistan's Minister of Health Soraya Dalil. "The two visitors were father and son, and a woman who was also in the visiting group was wounded."

Angie Schuitema, Umanos' mother-in-law, told The Associated Press that she learned of Umanos' death from her son, and then from daughter Jan Schuitema, who is a teacher in Chicago. She said her daughter and son-in-law had just taken a two-week vacation in Turkey.

Colleagues in Chicago are heartbroken about the loss of Umanos, 57, who had worked for more than 25 years at Lawndale Christian Health Center in the city, said Dr. Bruce Rowell, medical director of clinical quality at the facility.

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Afghanistan shooting leaves Chicago doctor, two other Americans dead