RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – As the investigation continues into an early morning shooting at Chippenham Hospital, a former nurse at the hospital says she tried to voice her concerns about safety but didn’t see any immediate changes.
According to the Richmond Police Department, a patient and police officer were shot at Chippenham Hospital’s mental health facility at around 4 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 22. Police told 8News officers responded to the Tucker Pavilion and found a man with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Police identified a 27-year-old man from the Glen Allen area of Henrico County as the suspect and took him into custody. He had reportedly attempted to check himself into the hospital for a mental health evaluation before the shooting.
According to authorities, a Chesterfield County Police Department officer, who was at the scene for a separate incident, fired his gun but did not hit the suspect. During the incident, the officer’s boot was hit by a bullet but he was not injured.
8News spoke with Janette Moore, who worked at the facility as a nurse until about a week ago. She said she tried to express safety concerns to staff members, including the need for additional safety staff and cameras, but did not feel her concerns were escalated.
“I’ve seen, in certain areas, that the doors were locked and patients that want to walk outside know how to unlock the doors and leave the doors open,” said Moore.
Following this morning’s incident, she wonders if this situation could have been avoided if her concerns had been addressed.
“You expect to feel safe inside and out of the hospital, things were not safe inside and out of the hospital,” said Moore. “We shouldn’t have to go to work and risk our life at the same time that we’re trying to save a life.”
8News reached out to HCA Healthcare, who operates Chippenham Hospital, about her concerns. A spokesperson provided 8News with the following statement:
“Chippenham Hospital is committed to the safety of all staff members and patients. We have security on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and entrances are clearly marked with signage that prohibits weapons. We are grateful for the officer who took immediate action during this morning’s incident and we are incredibly proud of how our colleagues responded and cared for our patients. For those impacted by today’s incident, we have trained counselors on site.”
According to correspondence provided to 8News between Moore and her workforce contractor, her safety concerns were expressed to staff members. However, HCA Healthcare was unable to share to what extent these concerns were documented before publication.
Moore hopes, moving forward, that the facility will beef up security and increase communication to staff members.
“We live in a world [where] there is no absolute prevention, but we can at least help to communicate and make people aware that these things are going on so they can be a little bit more vigilant. They can notice somebody off behavior and report it,” said Moore.
“We are actively assessing our security needs and working on increasing resources,” said an HCA spokesperson.
