Philadelphia CNA Killed, Two Police Officers Shot by Hospital Employee

Philadelphia, PA (WorkersCompensation.com) – A 43-year-old certified nursing assistant is dead after being shot at a Philadelphia hospital by a co-worker, police said. 

Early on Monday morning, Philadelphia Police were called to the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, responding to a shooter on the ninth floor, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said.

Once on the scene, witnesses said a 55-year-old man wearing scrubs entered the hospital, walked to the ninth floor and shot and killed the CNA. 

The suspect then fled the hospital, witnesses told the police, in a U-Haul truck. 

Police said the suspect also worked at the hospital as a nursing assistant, but it was unclear how the two men were connected. The suspect, Outlaw said at a press conference, was wearing body armor and armed with multiple weapons, including an AR-15. 

Chesley Lightsey, with the district attorney’s office, said the suspect’s motive is unknown, but so far the investigation leads officials to believe the two were friends and the victim was targeted. 

“It is pretty clear as it relates to the murder that happened of a 42-year-old, completely innocent victim, in Jefferson Hospital that the two people knew each other and early indications are that they were actually friends,” Lightley said during a press conference Monday morning. “We don’t know what the motivation was that caused our suspect to go in and murder the person. But he was clearly, based on everything I know, targeting this individual.” 

About an hour later, officials said, another witness flagged down a police officer near 40th Street and Parkside Avenue, saying a man wearing scrubs was firing a weapon, Outlaw said. 

When four officers arrived on the scene, the suspect opened fire on them, she said. All four of the officers fired back at the suspect. During the shoot out, two of the officers were shot. 

“The first officer is a 30-year-old who was struck in the right elbow. He’s in critical but stable condition. The second officer is a 32-year-old who was struck in the nose, who is in stable condition,” Outlaw said. 

During the gun fire exchange, the suspect was also shot. He was listed in critical condition on Monday morning. 

The shooting was the second workplace shooting in Philadelphia in three days. 

Just before noon on Friday, Wayne Dorylis, 59, of Milford, Delaware, entered an office building on Old York Road in the Logan section of Philadelphia, and went to the third floor where he opened fire, police said. 

One man, 25-year-old Nassir Hadid, was killed during the incident. Police said he was shot in the head. Although the suspect did not work in the building, police said he may have had a grudge against someone who did. 

“It’s pretty clear this person came to this building specifically and was going to commit whatever act he wanted to commit intent on harming people,” Benjamin Naish, Philadelphia Deputy Commissioner of Investigations, said. 

When police arrived on the third floor, they found Dorylis armed with a large knife. Officers, according to a press release, used verbal commands and ordered him to drop his weapon, which he did. He was taken into custody and charged with murder, causing/risking a catastrophe, and several other weapons charges, the department announced Saturday. 

Police said Dorylis was armed with homemade “spring” shot weapons, but would not elaborate on the guns. 

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney tweeted that the incidents are a clear indication of the need for stricter gun laws, specifically referring to the long gun used in the hospital shooting. 

“This is yet another example of weaponry that is far too powerful being in the hands of people who shouldn’t have access to them. We need common-sense gun laws to stop these tragedies that have become all too frequent,” Kenney tweeted. 

The U.S. has seen a spike in workplace shootings in 2021, experts said. 

In June, in Albertville, Alabama, an employee killed two and injured two more when he started shooting at his place of employment, the Mueller Company. In May, a San Jose, California, transit worker killed nine employees before killing himself when he opened fire at the valley transportation authority. Before that, a former Indianapolis FedEx worker opened fire at the FedEx warehouse, killing eight before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in April. Also that month, a Bryan, Texas employee killed one person and injured another five when he opened fire at a cabinet manufacturing facility. 

Jaclyn Schildkraut, an associate professor at the State University of New York at Oswego, said workplace shootings tend to follow workplace grievances – either real or imaginary. The pandemic, she said, has aggravated those grievances – whether its frustration with the workplace, loss of a job, loss of income or other stressors. 

Employers can protect themselves by looking for a period of escalation where the shooter may become fascinated with weapons, or talk about harming themselves or others. They may even project their intentions by saying they’re planning on shooting up the workplace, or through indirect threats. 

Employers can intervene though. 

“Whether it’s local law enforcement or local community mental health, getting resources to individuals exhibiting signs of crisis is going to be very important in not only identifying potential shooters, but also people that won’t necessarily escalate to the very worst day, but will inevitably harm themselves,” she told WHNT.

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