Moment of silence held for women killed at Methodist Dallas Medical Center
A moment of silence was held Wednesday for the two women who were killed at Methodist Dallas Medical Center on Saturday morning.
The two women, 43-year-old social worker Jacqueline Pokuaa and nurse Katie Flowers, 63, were shot and killed by a man who was there for the birth of his child, according to police and the hospital.
The gunman has been identified as Nestor Hernandez, 30, a parolee who had received permission to be at the Dallas hospital while his girlfriend gave birth to their baby. Hernandez was convicted in a Dallas County aggravated robbery and sentenced to eight years in prison. He was released on Oct. 20, 2021, after serving six years of the term. After violating his probation twice, Hernandez was turned over to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which released him in September with an ankle monitor and approved his hospital visit, authorities said.
According to press reports from Africa, Pokuaa was originally from Ghana. The University of Texas at Arlington told KDFW-TV that Pokuaa received her master’s of social work from the university in 2019.
Flowers, who family members said went by Annette, was a “great caring nurse who love her job,” a co-worker told WFAA-TV.
“She loved her daughters and grand-babies,” a nurse told WFAA. “She recently renovated her house and was looking forward to retirement.”
A GoFundMe has been set up for Flowers’ family, with all the donations going to pay for funeral services, costs associated with the estate and any other expenses that might be associated with her death.
“Annette is a hero in her line of work, a single mother to 4, and Grammie to 5 wonderful grandbabies,” her friend Nikki Hinkley wrote in the description of the GoFundMe.
The minute of silence, organized by the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, was held Wednesday from noon to 12:01 p.m., according to a release from the DFWHC.
“This is our way of offering our prayers and condolences to the two healthcare employees who tragically lost their lives as well as to their families and fellow employees,” President and CEO of the hospital council Stephen Love said in the release. “It’s also an opportunity to create awareness of the increasing workplace violence at our hospitals. Our healthcare workforce has been dealing with this dangerous increase for a very long time.”
Two vigils that were planned for Wednesday night at the hospital were canceled, KDFW reported.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted that his office is working to help Pokuaa’s mother get a visa to come from Ghana for her funeral. Pokuaa also reportedly leaves behind a son.
“This is a big tragedy in the family, the community, in the medical field,” Aba Amprofi-Halm of the Ghana Nurses Association told WFAA. “When there is chaos, (Pokuaa was) very calm and that’s her personality. And that’s what she died doing ... she died helping.”
According to an arrest warrant affidavit reviewed by WFAA, Hernandez was visiting his girlfriend and baby in a room in the labor and delivery department when his behavior became strange.
He made “ominous phone calls and texts to his family,” accused his girlfriend of cheating on him and searched the room for another person, according to the affidavit.
Hernandez hit his girlfriend in the head with a handgun that he pulled from his pants, according to the affidavit.
His girlfriend told police that Hernandez said, “We are both going to die today,” and, “Whoever comes in this room is going to die with us,” the affidavit states.
Hernandez shot Pokuaa when she came into the room and shot Flowers when she heard the gunfire and looked into the room, according to the affidavit. A hospital police officer shot Hernandez in the leg before taking him into custody.
Hernandez’s girlfriend was treated for her injuries, and the newborn was not hurt in the incident, police said.
In a statement to KDFW, a Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson said, “There was not an indication that Hernandez would act out violently in a hospital and allowing him the ability to visit loved ones in that setting would not be out of the normal course of supervision.”
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said in a statement Monday that “parole decisions and conditions are not made by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office or any judicial officer of Dallas County but by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.”
Hernandez was transferred to another hospital for treatment after the shooting. He was released from that hospital Wednesday and booked into the Dallas County Jail, records show. He faces charges of capital murder.
