Posted on 07/25/2014 2:12:14 PM PDT by Kaslin
Via Bob Owens, who notes that the medical center where this all went down is a “gun-free zone.” Unfortunately, the shooter didn’t care about that.
Fortunately, his psychiatrist didn’t either. The cops pulled no punches afterwards: If the doctor hadn’t returned fire, the people inside the building were facing a rampage.
On Thursday, Whelan described how the meeting among [Richard] Plotts, [Dr. Lee] Silverman, and [caseworker Theresa] Hunt abruptly took a violent turn.
Plotts and Hunt went to Silverman’s third-floor office shortly before 2:30 p.m., Whelan said. Plotts was apparently armed, Whelan said, and people near the room soon heard shouting.
Concerned, a hospital employee “actually opened the door, saw him pointing a gun at the doctor,” Whelan said. The worker shut the door quietly and immediately called 911.
Plotts then opened fire. According to Whelan, he shot Hunt two times in the face. The psychiatrist then ducked under his desk, retrieved his gun, and came up shooting, striking Plotts three times.
Hunt died at the scene. Silverman was grazed near his temple and Plotts was hit in the arm and torso; as he staggered out of the doctor’s office, other workers tackled him. He had 39 unspent rounds on him when the cops finally got there.
The motive is still hazy: Yesterday the AP thought Plotts might have had a dispute with Silverman over his treatment but today they cite eyewitnesses who claim Plotts was ranting about the hospital’s gun ban. (Which is odd considering that it didn’t stop him.) Then again, given that the guy was being treated by a psychiatrist, maybe it’s not worth parsing motives too closely. He had a violent history, says the AP, and had been arrested before for assault, drugs, and multiple times for gun offenses. Something clearly was amiss upstairs. An obvious question in the aftermath: How’d he get his gun?
Actually, never mind that. Why would a facility that deals with disturbed people institute a “gun-free” policy if they weren’t prepared to enforce it by screening visitors? No surveillance cameras, no metal detectors. The logic here, I guess, is that you don’t want doctors keeping weapons in their office for fear that they’ll be knocked out by a homicidal patient, who’ll then find the gun and start shooting. If doctors can’t bring their weapons in but patients can, though, how is that likely to work out?
Police: Doctor Who Shot Gunman 'Saved Lives'
Neither do I and the Police didn’t either
Just hope the gun-free medical center doesn’t now feel the need fire Dr. Silverman for violating their posted rules!
I worked in a major hospital’s ER for a long,long time.The ER staff...physicians,nurses,clerks,*everyone*...were constantly being threatened by schizophrenics,psychopaths and drug addicts.When informed of this the top administration pooh poohed it saying,in effect,that we were imagining things.
As it SHOULD be!
Interesting. Tonight ABC news had what can only be considered as a PRO-GUN segment on this! They even showed a firearm like the doctor used, a Seecamp.
It is hard to believe that a good guy with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun! Unfortunately one woman was killed by the psycho shooter.
This is one shrink who won’t have any patients who say...”I see dead people”.
Lord have mercy. You are giving me a GOOD impression of shrinks.
They EARN every nickel they make from the nut jobs, don't they?
Nickel?
You've done as much research into how much a psychiatrist charges as I have, haven't you?
I suspect "Doctor Lucy" is bringing down the average.
How's that for a little FRego??
When seconds count, the police are only minutes away...
'Minds me of the Crocodile Dundee arrangement.
Sue to Croc: "A shrink, that's a Psychiatrist"
Crocodile Dundee: "Oh, I didn't know she was nuts"
Sue: "She's not nuts. She goes there to talk about her problems,
to bring them out in the open"
C.D.: "Doesn't she have any mates"
Sue: "I guess there aren't any shrinks in Walkabout"
C.D.: "If you have a problem in Walkabout, you tell Wally,
he tells everyone in town,
brings it out in the open and there's no more problem."
Sue: "We could all use more mates"
Getting older, like the rest of us. This sort of thing could age a man, after all.
If you haven't seen it yet, you might also enjoy a movie he made a few years ago, "Almost An Angel". It's not the Dundee character, but it's definitely all Paul.
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