Nurse killed in stabbing
rampage at Texas ASC
T
wo days before Thanksgiving 2013, a 22-
year-old man accompanied his mother to
the Good Shepherd Ambulatory Surgical
Center in Longview, Texas. He was escorted to
the waiting room, went to the bathroom and
came out wielding a hunting knife that witnesses
say he "had a death grip on." With a thousand-
yard stare in his eyes and screaming, "You're not
going to kill my mother," the man went berserk,
stabbing 3 strangers in the waiting room, the first
in the shoulder, the second in the chest, the third
in the heart. He then proceeded toward the clinical
area. A nurse who confronted him was stabbed in
the heart. He then entered the pre-op area and
stabbed another nurse in the shoulder. At 6:58
a.m., the hospital operator received a call from a
nurse screaming "There is a man with a knife stab-
bing people."
The 5 assaults occurred within 30 seconds. Two of the
stabbing victims later died: Gail Sandidge, RN, 57, a pre-
op and recovery nurse who was preparing a young girl
for surgery when she ran out into a hallway to check
on the commotion, and an 82-year-old man who'd
been waiting to take his son home after a procedure.
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 5 5
