Nurse attacked at bus stop dies in hospital she worked in for 38 years
A 70-year-old nurse who was attacked while waiting for a bus in downtown Los Angeles last week has reportedly died in the hospital where she’d worked for nearly four decades.
Sandra Shells, who’d spent 38 years helping others, succumbed to her injuries Sunday. Law enforcement officials arrested Kerry Bell, who is homeless, roughly an hour after the 5 a.m. attack. Bell was sleeping when he was apprehended.
Cops said the blow to the head that let to the fracturing of Shells’ skull was thrown “without provocation,” according to Newsweek.
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She was remembered by colleagues as tireless, helpful and well-liked.
“Sandra worked tirelessly and selflessly to keep her patients safe and healthy and will always be remembered as a ‘kind, compassionate and giving nurse’ with a ‘helpful and thoughtful nature’ who was a favorite amongst colleagues and patients,” Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center said in a statement.
L.A. county Supervisor and Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member Kathryn Barger said in a statement that medical workers like Shells are rendered especially vulnerable by the demands of their work.
“Our essential workers, such as this County nurse, often take public transportation at unconventional times and can become easy prey for violent actors,” Barger said.
L.A. Police Chief Michel Moore tweeted in reaction to Shells’ death on Sunday.
“A tragic and senseless murder directly tied to the failure of this Nation’s mental health resources,” he wrote. “We can and must do better. This victim lived her life for others. We are falling short.”
Also in Los Angeles Thursday, police say a 24-year-old woman was fatally stabbed by whom they believe to be homeless man while working in a high-end furniture store near Hollywood. That attack was also believed to have been random.
On Saturday, a homeless man in Times Square killed a 40-year-old woman passenger in front of an oncoming subway train, police said. Cops say the man immediately confessed.
With News Wire Services
