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Parents, employees frightened during shooting incident at Children’s Hospital
Parents, employees frightened during shooting incident at Children's Hospital
WAUWATOSA (WITI) -- It was a very scary day on Thursday, November 14th at Children's Hospital, after police say a 22-year-old suspect who had a warrant out for his arrest was shot and wounded near the neonatal unit of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa.
Some heard the announcement for an active shooter and ran outside -- but FOX6 News spoke with one man who did the opposite.
"All we heard was Code Blue, hospital on lockdown," Chad Starkey said.
Desperate to find his son, Starkey ignored the police presence outside Children's Hospital in Thursday afternoon and found a way inside the building, and up to the seventh floor.
"My first thought was to protect my son. There was a few of us up there and they all put us in the bathroom -- just get in there and get covered," Starkey said.
Starkey held his 32-week-old son Dominic and they huddled in the bathroom for 30 minutes.
"There's two sides to MPCU and we didn't know for sure if he was on our side or the other side so we all got scared," Starkey said.
Margaret King clung to her five-year-old's stuffed animal on Thursday. She was separated from her son and husband when the building went into lockdown.
"This announcement came over the hospital system saying an active shooter is on the 7th floor. I saw people getting up and taking cover. I saw hospital security reacting very quickly to get people to hide. A cop tried to make me hide and I actually ran outside the building," King said.
King eventually received a call from her family, and was told they were safe in the hospital basement.
"When I first heard the announcement it was my worst nightmare that it might be a mass shooting or something so I was just praying for everybody inside," King said.
Carolee Malen was just arriving for her shift and was directed into another building for safety. She says Thursday's events have left her shaken.
"It's very scary. It's scary for us. It's scary for the patients and the parents. It just brings to mind how you're not safe anywhere these days," Malen said.
Eventually, those hiding inside the building heard the all-clear.
"We heard over the loudspeaker: 'All Clear -- gunman down, come out. Everything is fine,'" Starkey said.
Sources say the suspect is Ashanti Dickerson-Hendricks.
Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn says officers identified the suspect in the neonatal unit of the hospital. He was holding a baby at the time. Flynn says officers engaged the suspect in a discussion, told him of his warrant status, and the suspect initially complied with the officers’ requests and began to leave with them.
Moments later, the suspect fled and officers noticed he had a semi-automatic pistol (40 caliber). Chief Flynn says the officers chased the suspect through the neonatal ward and into a hallway. That’s when the suspect apparently turned on officers — and one officer fired twice, striking the subject in the arm. That caused him to drop the pistol — and the suspect continued to flee. The suspect was captured and handcuffed a short time later. The weapon was recovered.
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