Hospital eyes metal detectors hours after shooting outside London ER
CBC
London police are looking for a suspect who fired multiple bullets outside of southwestern Ontario's largest emergency room early Saturday morning, shattering windows and the confidence of medical staff working inside.
Police say a pickup truck drove up to the Victoria Hospital emergency room at around 2:30 a.m., smashing into a cement pillar outside the ER. A man was admitted to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
"Police located evidence that a gun had been fired multiple times. The vehicle, and the outside of the building, had been struck by bullets," Acting Sgt. Sandasha Bough said.
Hospital staff were told Saturday morning during an emergency all-staff meeting that there is no threat to public safety. Police are also reinforcing that this was an isolated incident.
It's not clear from police whether the victim's injuries are the result of gun shots, or if his injuries were sustained outside the ER or at a different location. CBC News has asked police for clarification, but in an interview Saturday Bough said that information was still part of the investigation.
There was an earlier altercation between the suspect and the victim about 5 km away from the hospital, at White Oaks and Southdale roads, Bough said.
Police are looking for dash cam footage from the two locations taken between 2:10 a.m. and 2:35 a.m., and are specifically looking for the suspect's vehicle, which he fled in. It's described as a 4-door silver or grey sedan, possibly a Hyundai Sonata.
Hospital administrators were quick to alert staff to what they call a "code silver," the term used when an active shooter is on the premises. Services were reduced for a brief period in the ER to aid with the investigation, with CEO David Musyj saying all other hospitals in the region were notified of what was happening.
He told staff he has approved the procurement of metal detectors at London Health Sciences Centre, saying "unfortunately it is time" but staff and the public's wellbeing is priority.
"It reduced the risk of people bringing items into the hospital," Musyj said during a Saturday morning staff townhall. He spoke of the success of the detectors in Windsor, where they've been in place for approximately one year.
Police presence at all of LHSC's hospitals were being increased Saturday as an extra precaution hospital, staff said. It was also making psychological support available for staff.
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