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Nestor Hernandez, 30, charged with capital murder in October 22 shooting
Dallas police have released disturbing footage of a recent shooting at a hospital that killed two health workers after a man on parole allegedly opened fire in a fit of jealous rage just after his girlfriend gave birth.
The heavily edited surveillance and bodycam video released Wednesday shows gunman Nestor Hernandez, 30, opening fire at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.
Jacqueline Pokuaa, a 45-year-old social worker, and Katie Annette Flowers, a 63-year-old nurse, were killed in the Oct. 22 shooting before Hernandez was shot in the leg by responding police and taken into custody.
The harrowing footage shows chaotic scenes as the two women are shot in quick succession at the entrance to the delivery room, where Hernandez then barricaded himself with his girlfriend and their newborn baby.
A woman believed to be Hernandez’s girlfriend screams and roars in fear, saying ‘Please don’t do this!’ while begging him not to hurt their child.
Dallas police have released disturbing footage of a recent hospital shooting that killed two health workers. Shooter Nestor Hernandez is seen just before the shooting
Jacqueline Pokuaa (left), a 45-year-old social worker, and Katie Annette Flowers (right), a 63-year-old nurse, were killed in the Oct. 22 shooting
Much of the footage was captured on the Methodist Medical System Sgt. Robert Rangel, who was investigating an unrelated incident near the delivery room, when two shots were heard.
Rangel quickly draws his pistol and fires a single shot as the shooter emerged from the room with a pistol.
Hernandez was apparently hit in the leg and fled back into the room with his girlfriend and baby, leading to a tense stalemate.
The officer takes a vantage point on the door to the delivery room and hears Hernandez yell as he waits for backup.
“We can fix this,” Rangel says. ‘Just throw the gun out, please! Throw the gun out.’
Hernandez yells back, “We can’t figure it out, you don’t know what the hell is going on!”
As the girlfriend continues to wail and scream, Rangel continues to urge the shooter to throw away his weapon, or let his girlfriend and baby leave the room safely.
Hernandez opened fire shortly after his girlfriend gave birth, reportedly in a fit of rage when he accused her of cheating on him. He was on parole for aggravated theft
The hallway outside the delivery room where Hernandez barricaded himself during the approximately 15-minute standoff can be seen above
The police swarm in and take Hernandez into custody at the end of the hallway
As the police gather around the room, the stalemate continues, as they order him to throw the gun out of the room and show his hands.
After a standoff of about 15 minutes, the police came in and took Hernandez into custody, although that portion of the released video is audio only.
Hernandez, who was on parole from prison, had been cleared to be in the hospital while wearing an ankle monitor. It is unclear how a convicted parole officer gained access to a firearm.
“In my opinion, this is a failure of our criminal justice system,” Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said at a news conference last month. “A violent person like this should not have been on the ankle monitor and should have been kept in custody.”
Hernandez is charged with murder and aggravated assault against a government official, and is being held in lieu of a $3 million bond in the Dallas County Jail.
Hernandez arrived at the hospital around 10:20 a.m. to visit the giving birth and began hitting her repeatedly in the head with a gun, Garcia said.
According to an affidavit of an arrest warrant obtained by WFAA-TV, Hernandez began beating his girlfriend after he accused her of infidelity.
Hernandez has a long criminal history and is now on trial for murder for fatally shooting two health workers over the weekend at a Dallas hospital
Hernandez then began making “ominous” phone calls and texting his family, telling his girlfriend they were both going to die and saying, “Whoever enters this room will die with us,” according to the Dallas TV report. transmitter. the affidavit.
He shot Pokuaa as she entered the room to nurse the woman, then shot Flowers after looking around the room when she heard gunshots, Garcia said.
Hospital Police Sgt. Robert Rangel saw Flowers being shot, called for backup and took cover outside the room where Hernandez reloaded his weapon, the chief said. When Hernandez emerged, Rangel shot him in the leg, and after a standoff, police took him into custody, Garcia said.
Garcia said the woman who hit Hernandez was being treated for her injuries and a newborn child who was in the room was not injured.
According to Amanda Hernandez, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Hernandez was released from prison last October after being convicted of violent theft. She said he was allowed to be with his “partner” in the hospital during her delivery.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia speaks during a press conference at the police station on Monday. Dallas Police Lead Investigation into Shooting
Authorities have not released any information about how Hernandez obtained a gun while on parole for a felony conviction.
Methodist Medical System Police Chief Glen Fowler said Monday the hospital had not received any notice about his criminal history or that he was being followed with an ankle monitor.
“That’s not something we normally ask for for a parent,” Fowler said. “This is an extremely horrific, unusual situation. I wish we had known, but that’s not information given to us in advance.’
Garcia said Hernandez had been sentenced to eight years for violent theft, six years of which before he was paroled last year. In March 2022, he was arrested for violating parole and then released to his probation officer in April.
In June, Garcia said, Hernandez was arrested by police in suburban Dallas for another parole violation, taken to a county jail, and then transferred to Texas jails’ custody, who released him in September with the ankle monitor used. he wore during the shooting.
Data from Dallas County shows that Nestor Hernandez has been arrested several times since 2011, including on charges of violent theft, burglary and wrongful possession of a firearm by a felon.