Hospital Alert After Suspicious Visit Gunman May Have Arrived While Victims Of Gang Shooting Were Treated

Sacred Heart Medical Center is tightening security over fears that a gunman tried to sneak into the hospital after a gang-related shooting Sunday.

“It could be members of the same gang, it could be members of a rival gang. You just never know,” said Michael Stultz, the hospital’s security director.

Nurses and other hospital employees nervously are watching for two men - one believed to be armed - who strolled into the emergency room shortly after paramedics brought in three shooting victims.

The men, both Hispanic and 18 to 20 years old, said they were looking for a friend but left when security guards questioned them. By the time police arrived, they were gone.

Since then, all packages and envelopes are inspected before being delivered to floors where the victims are recuperating, Stultz said. Only their immediate families are allowed to visit them.

Security guards stroll the halls. Hospital employees screen telephone calls and tell strangers the victims aren’t in the building.

“It puts the nurses in the middle, and we’re not used to being in the middle,” said nurse manager Kris Becker. “This has always been perceived as a safety zone.”

Nurses caring for the victims are looking over their shoulders, said a registered nurse who didn’t want her name printed for fear of angering her bosses.

“One doctor goes, ‘I guess I should make my rounds really quick and get out of here,”’ said the nurse. “He was half-joking.

“I said, ‘Unfortunately, we spend eight hours a day here.”’

The victims were hospitalized late Sunday after bullets peppered the side of their car in the Spokane Valley.

Two of three suspects have ties to Hispanic gangs in Yakima, Moses Lake and the Tri-Cities, police said. The third, 17-year-old Jeremy Johnson, was charged Tuesday with five counts of first-degree assault.

Torrey Lowery, 18, was shot in the chest. Heidi Hughes, 20, and Sabrina Lewin, 17, were also shot, one in the knee, hip and neck and the other in the leg, wrist and finger, police said.

After the three were brought in, people walking through the parking lot overheard two men talking about getting a gun, Stultz said. Minutes later, the men walked into the emergency room. One carried a package that guards thought contained a gun.

Some nurses won’t feel safe until an armed police officer patrols the hallways, one nurse said.

Stultz, who recently came to Sacred Heart from Stanford University Medical Center, said arming guards isn’t the answer. That would only make them a target and frighten other patients, he said.

Security guards at the hospital are trained to disarm suspects without using weapons.

From now on, strict precautions will be taken when patients arrive with gang-related injuries, Stultz said.

Hospital officials will give the victims aliases and deny they’re even in the hospital. Only family members and police officers will know their whereabouts, he said.

In extremely threatening cases, the hospital may be locked down to everyone but those with special access cards.

This time, security guards will patrol the hallways until the last shooting victim goes home, Stultz said.

Becker is glad. “When I look at them,” she said, pointing to a picture of her children, “I want (officers) up here.”

, DataTimes