Following the horrendous shooting that took place at the Dallas Methodist Medical Center on Saturday, hospital workers are voicing concerns for their safety.
A former Methodist Health System employee who wished to remain anonymous told local news outlet Fox 4 that she wondered if more could have been done to stop the incident before it happened.
“That was supposed to be a happy unit. It’s a happy place. Labor and delivery, postpartum, those are happy places,” she said.
She said she works in the mother/baby unit of the hospital and knows many of the people that were there during the shooting, including one of the victims.
“They’re devastated. They’re traumatized,” she said. “And when they woke up that morning and told their family bye they didn’t think that would happen.”
She claimed that Methodist has had security concerns for years, including not enough restrictions nor oversight.
“We’ve said this is going to happen. We always said it was going to happen,” the anonymous worker told Fox 4.
According to the news outlet, many healthcare workers currently employed at Methodist have reached out to them regarding security concerns, yet no one has agreed to an interview for fear of retaliation and of losing their jobs.
The hospital has yet to respond to any questions from local news outlets or call a press conference regarding the incident. It has released a statement confirming that the incident had taken place and that it will be increasing police staffing on its campus.
“Safety on each of our campuses is of paramount concern and is evaluated on an ongoing basis and anytime an issue occurs,” read Methodist’s statement.
It was a Methodist Health System police officer that shot and wounded the alleged shooter, Nester Hernandez, on Saturday.
Hernandez, age 30, is currently on parole for aggravated robbery and had an active ankle monitor at the time of the shooting, according to police.
How he was able to enter the mother/baby units — reportedly the safest in the hospital — remains unknown.
Serena Bumpus, CEO of the Texas Nurse Association, claimed, “You have to be a patient or a family member of a patient to get in there. It is my understanding that this was a family member of a mother in the unit.”
In a tweet on his Twitter account, Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia called the shooting “an abhorrent failure of our criminal justice system.”