Hospital locked down after woman shot in city
By John Joyce
Published in News on April 19, 2014 10:31 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Goldsboro police investigator Steve Harmon works the scene of a shooting.
Wayne Memorial Hospital went into emergency lockdown for about 10 minutes Saturday after Wayne County EMS transported a woman with a gunshot wound to the emergency room following a shooting at an apartment complex Saturday.
The suspect remains at large.
The victim, Lori Ruth Pate, 51, is in stable condition, police said.
"She was involved in a robbery of some type," Maj. Al King said.
Police responded to The Reserve at Bradbury Place, 560 West New Hope Road, just after noon Saturday.
Ms. Pate went into surgery shortly after arriving at Wayne Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to law enforcement.
A black man described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, wearing a gray hoodie and hat approached Ms. Pate and demanded her purse as she got out of her vehicle, according to the police report.
Ms. Pate refused and was shot in the midsection, the report said.
Investigators and patrol officers scoured the scene outside the apartment building where Ms. Pate was shot.
A K-9 officer and his working dog, Suzie, followed the scent trail of the shooter behind the apartment complex into a neighboring trailer park.
Police checked at least one residence, but found no one.
Investigators went to the emergency room to speak with the victim.
A short time later, Wayne County emergency dispatch announced the lockdown at Wayne Memorial Hospital.
Hospital spokesperson Georgia Dees called the lockdown an "accidental activation."
"There is a button (Wayne Memorial Police) can push that automatically closes and locks all the doors," she said.
Mrs. Dees said the button was accidentally pushed.
"Maybe that is what alerts Goldsboro PD. That might have been what happened," she said.
Fire Marshall Bryan Taylor, with the Wayne County Office of Emergency Services, confirmed Wayne Memorial Hospital called the dispatch center after 1 p.m. to advise the hospital was going into lockdown -- that no one, not even emergency vehicles, would be allowed in or out.
"EMS was notified and from that point, it is up to EMS to, if they decide to, transport patients to another hospital," Taylor said.
That did not happen in this case due to the brevity of the lockdown, he said.
Less than five minutes after the lockdown was initiated, EMS advised that emergency vehicles could leave the hospital, but would still be prevented from entering.
Within another five minutes, the lockdown ended. The investigators returned to Bradbury Place where officers continued searching for evidence.
Investigators have little to go on, King said.
No weapon has been recovered.
"Because of the rain we don't have much of a crime scene, King said. "We canvassed the neighborhood but it doesn't appear anybody heard anything out of the ordinary."