By Matt O’Brian
The Contra Costa Times
MARTINEZ, Calif. — Police shot and killed a man in a hospital emergency room early this morning after he threatened nurses and a deputy with a knife, said hospital officials and a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
Paul Hammond, a 47-year-old man from Rio Vista, had walked into the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez complaining of chest pains and had been treated at the hospital for hours before he brandished a knife.
“He pulled the knife, threatened the nurse, the nurse called the deputies,” said William Walker, the county’s health director.
Deputies who were on duty at the hospital arrived at the scene and repeatedly told Hammond to put the knife down, said Contra Costa sheriff’s spokesman Jimmy Lee. Two deputy sheriffs later “fired their weapons for their safety and the safety of staff and patients in the area,” Lee said.
A deputy told emergency dispatchers at 2:08 a.m. that shots had been fired inside the hospital, Lee said.
Hammond was pronounced dead at the hospital, Lee said. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.
The two deputies who fired their weapons have been placed on paid administrative leave.
Walker said that Hammond apparently had the knife in his possession but medical staff had no reason to believe he would be dangerous when he arrived for medical help Saturday night.
“He was a regular patient with a condition that warranted treatment,” Walker said. “He had been there for several hours before it happened.”
The sheriff’s office is investigating the shooting with the Martinez Police Department and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.
Hospital officials shut down the emergency department after the shooting, diverting patients and incoming ambulances to other hospitals. The emergency room re-opened at 9 a.m.
No hospital employees were injured, but Walker said the facility has offered counseling to employees who witnessed the chaotic scene.
“People were quite upset,” he said. “This is not the normal activity in the emergency room, which is a place for caring for people.”
Copyright 2009 Contra Costa Newspapers
All Rights Reserved