Man holds nurse hostage at Munising Memorial Hospital

[Knimrod]

Man holds nurse hostage at Munising Memorial Hospital
3/18/2006
http://www.migunowners.org/images/ap.gif

MUNISING, Mich. (AP) — A 47-year-old man armed with a rifle and pistol was arrested early Saturday after authorities said he held a female nurse hostage for nearly four hours at Munising Memorial Hospital.

City police were called to the hospital shortly after midnight following a report of a hostage situation.

The Munising man, whose name wasn't immediately released, negotiated with officers until 4:10 a.m., when the nurse was able to escape, police said in a statement. Police immediately apprehended the man.

Police said they didn't know why the hostage situation started.

The man was charged with felonious assault and carrying a weapon with unlawful intent. If convicted, he could face four years in prison for felonious assault and five years for carrying a weapon with unlawful intent.

Link to story (http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-32/114270025894190.xml&storylist=newsmichigan)

[Divegeek]

But wait a minute I thought hospitals are suppose to be safe gun free zones.

On a side note couldn't they also charge this guy with kidnapping? I know he take the nurse any where but he did hold her against her will. Doesn't that qualify?

[Divegeek]

Well I haven't answered my own question yet but I did find a different account of the story with more info from the local Munising paper:

link to story (http://www.miningjournal.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=2355)

Munising hospital nurse held hostage

MUNISING — A 47-year-old Munising man is awaiting arraignment in 93rd District Court after allegedly holding an emergency room nurse hostage for several hours early Saturday morning.

According to police, the man, whose name is being withheld, was holding a female nurse hostage with a rifle and pistol in a barricaded emergency room at Munising Memorial Hospital.

“He is under arrest and will be arraigned as soon as possible,” said Sgt. Dale Boerema of the Munising Police Department. “The nurses and personnel are all fine.”

Munising Police Department officers were called at 12:17 a.m. Saturday to the hospital, which is located along Sand Point Road in Munising. Shortly after, Michigan State Police troopers from the Munising post and deputies from the Alger County Sheriff’s Department also responded to assist Munising police.

The man barricaded in the emergency room negotiated with police officers, hoping to secure narcotics, police said. Police declined to detail what type of drugs the man wanted.

“He used articles within the ER, machinery, furniture within the ER (for a barricade),” Boerema said.

State police negotiators and members of the department’s special tactical Emergency Services Team were sent to the hospital from the state police Negaunee post.

They arrived at 2:50 a.m.

Police negotiated with the barricaded suspect until 4:10 a.m., when the hostage nurse was able to escape. Police did not disclose how the nurse escaped.

The tactical team then entered the emergency room and apprehended the man, who police said put up a slight resistance.

Without their report finalized, police also declined to say how the man came to be in the emergency room to begin with, or whether he had been a patient at the hospital.

On Saturday, reports said the suspect in the hostage-taking was under police guard at Marquette General Hospital in Marquette.

Boerema would neither confirm nor deny whether the man was hospitalized in Marquette, but did say the suspect had taken some of the narcotics.

“He took some of them and he had to be treated,” Boerema said.

The man is being charged with felonious assault, a four-year felony, and carrying a weapon with unlawful intent, a five-year felony. Alger County Prosecutor Karen Bahrman will review the incident to determine the possibility of filing more charges against the man.

“These are just the preliminary charges,” Boerema said.

Bond was expected to be set for the man today.