Category Archives: Prisoners in Hospitals

Inmate Patient Takes Sheriff’s Deputy’s Gun, Shoots Deputy and Kills Himself

Prisoner Grabs Deputy’s Gun at a West Union, Iowa Hospital,  Shoots Deputy & Turns Firearm on Himself.

At Palmer Lutheran Health Center, a full service hospital in West Union, Iowa, an inmate who was brought from Fayette County Jail on Saturday morning, August 23, at 8:30 am, grabbed the County Sheriff Deputy’s gun and demanded he be released, the deputy used a non-lethal device on the inmate, who then shot the deputy at close range.  The inmate then killed himself with the handgun.

The deputy, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was shot in the stomach, but was treated and released at the site of the incident.  The inmate, still unidentified, grabbed the gun when one of his hands was released for his medical treatment.

West Union Shooting

LESSONS  LEARNED:

1.   Forensic patients (prisoners) know it’s easier to escape
from the hospital
room, or hospital bed,  than it is to
escape from the County Jail!  Security should be
present to support law enforcement.  One deputy is
a minimum.  Deputy with security officer present is
better.

 

2.   Wearing a bulletproof vest saved the deputy’s life during the incident.  Security officers should
consider having bulletproof vests available when dealing with this type of patient.

According to research in the Journal of Injury Prevention,  “Shootings in U.S. Hospitals 2000 – 2011,
in 23% of shootings within hospital emergency departments, the weapon was a security officer’s gun taken by the perpetrator. https://www.llis.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/FA-gdkelen.pdf

IAHSS (International Association of Hospital Safety and Security),  has policy guidelines for security departments that deal with forensic (inmate) patients.  IAHSS members can access the Healthcare Security: Basic Industry Guidelines at www.iahss.org.

Security managers and hospital management need to make sure that All Hospital Staff including Clinical Staff
Are Warned to Use Extreme Caution When Working with or Near Forensic Patients!


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