In a press conference following the incident Thursday, Baltimore police and Johns Hopkins officials have confirmed that a man has shot a surgeon at the facility and that the shooter subsequently turned the gun on himself and his mother, a patient of the wounded physician.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld said the surgeon was shot in the abdomen by the shooter, Paul Warren Pardus, who then barricaded himself in his mother’s hospital room. A SWAT team later determined that both Pardus and his mother were dead by single gunshot wounds to the head approximately 2 hours after the physician was shot.
During the press conference, it was noted that the surgeon was still in surgery and that his wounds appeared to be survivable.
Earlier news reports identified the surgeon as David B. Cohen, MD, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery specializing in spine procedures at Hopkins.
Gary Stephenson, senior associate director of communications at Hopkins, said the medical center was gratified on how the police responded to the “horrible” situation. He would not reveal any other details about the wounded physician.
Harry Koffenberger, vice president of Hopkins security said that emergency text messages were sent to employees at the onset of the incident.
“We have a process, state law requires an id badge for all employees and visitors get a wrist band,” he said. “We go through 80,000 wristbands per week.” When asked if the hospital has magnetometers to check for weapons at the doors he replied, “With more than 80 doors on campus buildings, the cost of those and armed force to staff them is not possible.”
