Dive Brief:
- A psychiatric patient opened fire at Mercy Fitzgerald Wellness Center in Philadelphia, killing his caseworker before psychiatrist Lee Silverman returned fire with his open weapon and critically wounded the shooter.
- Another doctor and caseworker entered Fitzgerald's office after shots were fired and wrestled the shooter, Richard Plotts, to the ground. Plotts has 39 unspent bullets on him, which authorities believe he intended to use.
- Mercy policy prohibits anyone except on-duty law enforcement officers from bringing weapons onto the campus, a Mercy Health System spokesperson told Modern Healthcare. She declined to offer an explanation why Silverman had a gun at work.
Dive Insight:
"I believe that if the doctor did not have a firearm, [and] the doctor did not utilize the firearm, he'd be dead today, and I believe that other people in that facility would also be dead," said Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan.
The shooting raises serious questions about hospital safety, particularly in facilities like Mercy, and how staff should be trained to respond in the face of patient violence. Still, Silverman and Mercy will have to answer questions about why the psychiatrist was in direct defiance of the clinic's gun policy.
"This could be a much different situation if the perpetrator was allowed to continue with his actions, so I give credit for the staff for intervening," Whelan told CNN.