DALLAS (AP) – A man shot two Dallas hospital employees over the weekend, shooting them after accusing his newly born girlfriend of infidelity, authorities said.
Jacqueline Pokuaa, a 45-year-old social worker, and Katie Annette Flowers, a 63-year-old nurse, were killed Saturday at the Dallas Methodist Medical Center, according to police and hospital officials.
Authorities said Nestor Hernandez, 30, opened fire around 11 am while in the hospital to witness the birth of a child his girlfriend was giving birth. Hernandez, who was on probation and was allowed to go to the hospital wearing an electronic ankle bracelet, was shot by a police officer, authorities said.
“In my opinion, this is a failure of our criminal justice system,” Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said at a news conference Monday. “A violent individual like this shouldn’t have walked around with an electronic anklet and should have remained in custody.”
Hernandez was charged with murder punishable by the death penalty. It is not clear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf, nor is he on any list of people held in the Dallas County Jail. Authorities said he received treatment from the Methodist after the shooting and was subsequently transferred to another medical school for further treatment.
Hernandez arrived at the hospital around 10:20 am to visit the woman who was due to give birth and began hitting her repeatedly in the head with a gun, Garcia said. According to an affidavit of the arrest warrant obtained by WFAA-TV, Hernandez began beating her girlfriend after accusing her of infidelity.
Hernandez then began making “threatening” calls and texting his family, telling his girlfriend that they would both die and stated that “anyone who enters this room will die with us,” the affidavit states. , according to that Dallas TV station. He shot Pokuaa as he walked into the room to deal with the woman, and then shot Flowers after he looked into the room after hearing gunshots, Garcia added.
Sergeant Robert Rangel, a hospital police officer, saw Flowers being shot at, called for backup and barricaded himself outside the room where Hernandez was reloading his gun, the police chief added. . When Hernandez got out, Rangel shot him in the leg and, after a fight, the police took him into custody.
Garcia said the woman Hernandez hit was treated for her injuries and that a newborn in the room was not injured.
