Patient shoots doctor at Florida Veterans Affairs hospital
West Palm Beach FL Feb 28 2019 A doctor with the Department of Veterans Affairs was shot in the neck when a patient in a wheelchair opened fire Wednesday evening in the emergency room of a VA hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, the authorities said.
The suspect, Lawrence Bon, 59, had been at West Palm Beach VA Medical Center since early in the morning and had been “combative” with employees all day, Special Agent Michael Leverock, an FBI spokesman, said in a phone interview. Bon began shooting a pistol at about 6:20 p.m., while he was undergoing a psychological evaluation, Leverock said.
The injured doctor, whose named was not released, was shot while trying to subdue Bon, who is a double amputee. Another hospital employee was grazed by a bullet, Leverock said. The employees’ injuries were not life-threatening.
Bon spent a very short time in the military in the mid-1970s, Leverock said, and his amputations were unrelated.
The doctor who was shot was taken to another hospital for treatment, said Mary Kay Rutan, a spokeswoman for the medical center’s network. The facility was secure and would be operational Thursday, she said.
The FBI took over the investigation of the shooting because it occurred in a federal building, Leverock said. Bon was scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday.
The West Palm Beach VA Medical Center, about 75 miles north of Miami on Florida’s eastern coast, is a general medical, psychiatric and surgical facility, according to its website.
The 153-bed facility opened in 1995 and “provides health services to veterans throughout South Florida,” both at the main facility in West Palm Beach and six contractor-operated outpatient clinics, a 2017 report said. The facility also operates a 108-bed “community living center” and a 13-bed “blind rehabilitation service,” according to the report. During the 2017 fiscal year, the facility served about 60,000 veterans, the report said.
The West Palm Beach VA Medical Center is one of about 170 medical centers and nearly 1,000 clinics run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Together, they treat about 9 million veteran patients each year.
The VA is a regular target of ire for some veterans; some are angry about delays, others fume over rulings on monthly disability compensation; some see the department as a stand-in for a nation they feel has served them poorly after they came home from war.
NYT
