Employees shot to death in Dallas hospital ID’d; gunman threatened girlfriend, cops say
Patient case manager Jacqueline Pokuaa walked late on Saturday morning into a room at Methodist Dallas Medical Center on a routine matter.
Nestor Hernandez, the father of a newborn in the room, stood and shot the 45-year-old woman dead, police said.
Nurse Katie Flowers, 63, heard the shot and looked into the room. From the door, Hernandez fired into the hall, killing her, too, police said.
A hospital police sergeant, Robert Rangel, was a few doors down on a stolen property call and took cover.
As Hernandez reloaded his gun and began to leave the room, Rangel shot him in the leg, police said.
Suspect violated parole, police say
Hernandez is a parolee who had received permission to be at the Dallas hospital for the birth of his child. Hernandez was convicted in a Dallas County aggravated robbery and sentenced to eight years in prison. He was released on Oct. 20, 2021, after serving six years of the term.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles placed Hernandez on parole with a special condition of electronic monitoring via a device on his ankle. He was arrested twice this year on parole violations.
“In my opinion this is a failure of our criminal justice system,” Dallas Police Department Chief Eddie Garcia said at a press conference on Monday. “A violent individual such as this should not have been on an ankle monitor and should have remained in custody.”
Hernandez was arrested by Dallas police on the first parole violation in March and released to his parole officer in April. After the second parole violation, on which he was arrested in June in Carrollton, Hernandez was booked into the county jail before being turned over to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which released him in September with the ankle monitor, Garcia said. The June violation was for cutting off his ankle monitor, law enforcement sources told WFAA.
“This isn’t about being on parole,” Garcia said. “What this is about is a violent criminal that was on an ankle monitor and us thinking that in some way, shape or form that that’s a level of accountability. Because it is not.”
Methodist Health System Police Chief Glen Fowler said at the press conference that the hospital was not warned about Hernandez’s criminal record or that he wore an ankle monitor. The hospital does not routinely inquire about the criminal backgrounds of parents visiting its mother and baby units, he said.
“This is an extremely horrific, out-of-the-norm situation,” Fowler said. “I wish that we would have known, but that is not some information that was provided to us beforehand.”
Hospital officials said they had increased security following the shooting but have offered few details. Officials told KXAS-TV that they recently installed new surveillance cameras, strengthened security barriers and held active shooter training.
“Violence against health care workers is on the rise and it is something that is of great concern across our nation,” Fowler said Monday.
Hernandez, 30, was arrested on suspicion of capital murder. He was stabilized and taken to another hospital. It was not clear whether he was still at a hospital on Monday.
Affidavit: Gunman assaulted girlfriend
According to an arrest warrant affidavit reviewed by WFAA-TV, Hernandez was visiting his girlfriend and baby in a room in the labor and delivery department when his behavior became strange.
He made “ominous phone calls and texts to his family,” accused his girlfriend of cheating on him and searched the room for another person, according to the affidavit.
Hernandez hit his girlfriend in the head with a handgun that he pulled from his pants, according to the affidavit.
His girlfriend told police that Hernandez said, “We are both going to die today,” and, “Whoever comes in this room is going to die with us,” the affidavit states.
Hernandez’s girlfriend was treated for her injuries, and the newborn was not hurt in the incident, police said.
Permission to be at hospital
Hernandez was granted permission to be at the hospital with his significant other during delivery of the child, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Amanda Hernandez said. The child was born Friday, according to the affidavit.
In a statement to KDFW-TV on Monday, a Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson said, “There was not an indication that Hernandez would act out violently in a hospital and allowing him the ability to visit loved ones in that setting would not be out of the normal course of supervision.”
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said in a statement Monday that “parole decisions and conditions are not made by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office or any judicial officer of Dallas County but by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.”
“I remain sickened, stunned, and heartbroken by the senseless shooting at Methodist Hospital,” Creuzot said. “Given the sacrifices our healthcare workers make on a daily basis they should be free from threats of violence, especially in an area that is typically filled with the celebration of new life.”
The Criminal Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General is working with Dallas police in the case, Amanda Hernandez said. On Monday, the health system’s police department asked Dallas police to lead the investigation of the double homicide, Garcia said. Dallas police were already handling investigation of the officer-involved shooting.
Nestor Hernandez served a two-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty in a 2011 armed robbery and an eight-year sentence in a plea agreement in another robbery in 2015, according to court records. The victims were beaten, and their property was stolen, the records state.
Hospital shooting victims
Hospital employees are organizing vigils for the victims on Wednesday night. According to press reports from Africa, Pokuaa was originally from Ghana.
The Ghana Nurses Association told WFAA that Pokuaa leaves behind a son.
“This is a big tragedy in the family, the community, in the medical field,” Aba Amprofi-Halm of the nurses association told the TV station. “When there is chaos, she’s very calm and that’s her personality. And that’s what she died doing ... she died helping.”
Flowers, who family members said went by Annette, was a “great caring nurse who love her job,” a co-worker told WFAA.
“She loved her daughters and grand-babies,” a nurse told WFAA. “She recently renovated her house and was looking forward to retirement.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 10:49 AM.
