Union Hospital ER shooting...when CCW was illegal

For weeks now, the Ohio Hospital Association has been advocating a victim zone mentality on its website.

Hospital administrators have blindly followed, to the point that we have stopped attempting to list each one indiviually on the "Do Not Patronize While Armed" list.

To be sure, many hospital decision-makers are just inexperienced with this issue, and have decided just to rely on OHA advice. But then there is Union Hospital in Dover, which has decided to post signs in the face of intimate experience with just how impotent Ohio's 150 year-old concealed carry ban was at stopping criminals.

It seems no lessons were learned in the entire community on this cold December night. The City of Dover has passed a ban on city property "to the limits of the law", and Tuscawaras County Sheriff is dragging his feet on accepting applications for concealed handgun licenses.

December 19, 2003
New Philadelphia Times Reporter

ER shootout: Officer shot, gunman killed at Union Hospital

A New Philadelphia police officer shot by a gunman inside Union Hospital at Dover early Wednesday is being hailed as a hero.

“He put himself between the gunman and the hospital staff and the patients,” said Carey Gardner, the hospital’s director of community relations.

“Unbelievable.”

Capt. Joe Skinner, 36, a New Philadelphia police veteran of more than 10 years, was in satisfactory condition in Union Hospital Wednesday night.

Skinner suffered a single gunshot wound to his left arm after being hit by a bullet from a .38-caliber revolver. The bullet entered his left forearm and remains lodged in his upper arm.

Skinner returned fire and killed the gunman, 57-year-old Eugene Swonger Jr. of Dover. Swonger died at the scene.

Dover Police Chief Ronald Johnson, who was briefed on the investigation by Detective Capt. Joe Ball, held a joint news conference with New Philadelphia Police Chief Jeff Urban at Dover.

“He placed his own life at risk to stop the individual from shooting,” said Urban of Skinner’s response.

Gardner said he was awestruck by what the police officer did.

During the news conference, which attracted media representatives from throughout the state, Johnson outlined the initial sequence of events:

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

At about 2:35 a.m. Swonger entered the hospital’s emergency room reception area and sat down at the reception desk. When the receptionist offered assistance, Swonger told her he was going to commit suicide.

The receptionist told Swonger the hospital could get him some help and asked him to sign an admittance form. Swonger told her he was not going to sign anything and produced a five-shot, .38-special revolver from his coat pocket.

The receptionist asked him to put the gun away and then walked into the emergency room nurses’ station area where she told staff members that a man wanted to commit suicide and had a gun.

While staff members scrambled to dial 911 and call the Dover Police Department, they heard a gunshot.

Dover’s Chief Johnson said that after the initial gunshot, two staff members started toward the reception area, and one saw Swonger still sitting at the reception desk, holding a gun. They backed away and waited for police to arrive.

Skinner had been visiting at the hospital and was doing a walk through, according to his chief. He had just left, then returned immediately after he heard the 911 call for help on his police radio.

Skinner went to the emergency room nurses’ station where he was told that the man who had fired a shot was still at the reception desk area.

He confronted Swonger, yelling at him, according to witnesses, to “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!”

A Union Hospital security guard arrived in the area and heard two or three shots from a “lower-powered gun,” Johnson said, then rapid shots from the police officer’s gun.

The security guard was able to distinguish the noise difference between the two firearms and said Swonger fired before Skinner returned fire, according to investigators.

Swonger apparently fired five shots, while Skinner shot six rounds. One of Swonger’s bullets went through a wall but missed members of a family waiting on the other side.

Swonger was hit in the chest with two shots from Skinner’s .40-caliber pistol.

Johnson noted that after the shooting Skinner walked back toward the emergency room nurses’ station, reporting that he was shot.

Dover police officers Ptl. Bill Nedrow and Ptl. Jim Hitchcock arrived moments later to find the wounded Swonger still sitting in the chair.

Nedrow and a hospital security guard took Swonger from the chair, placed him onto the floor and handcuffed him. Johnson said handcuffing a suspect involved in a shooting is standard police procedure.

Swonger died a short time later while receiving medical treatment.

Johnson noted Capt. Ball is conducting the investigation.

Assistance at the scene also was provided by the New Philadelphia Police Department, Tuscarawas County Sheriff Department, Ohio Highway Patrol and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification.

Johnson said a preliminary report will be sent to the Tuscarawas County prosecutor’s office next week, and police are awaiting an autopsy report from the Stark County coroner’s office.

Prosecutor Amanda Spies Bornhorst said the case will be presented to the Tuscarawas County grand jury on Dec. 31 to determine if the shooting by Skinner was justified.

She noted that a tape recording of the 911 call that originated from the hospital wouldn’t be released prior to the grand jury session “in order to be fair to Officer Skinner and the victim’s family.”

Urban said Skinner was placed on administrative leave, as per department policy. A review of the incident will be prepared by the department’s shooting team, given to Urban and forwarded to the department’s firearms review board.

Skinner is the department’s firearms officer, and based on a preliminary report, “it appears that he handled this pretty well,” Urban said. He added that everything appears to have been done “well within policy, and well within what he could do to try to protect himself and protect all the other people in that emergency room.”

Gardner, at the news conference, said he thinks it is too early to say whether the hospital will need increased security. He said hospital personnel will wait until the entire story is in and take a look at the security situation and access to the hospital.

“Obviously we will do everything we have to do to protect our staff, but we want to make sure that what we’re doing ... how effective is that, and what other steps can be done reasonably,” he said.

Gardner said it was a very short time from when Swonger announced his intentions until the gunshots started. “And fortunately a police officer was in close vicinity and quickly responded and put an end to the threat to our staff, our patients and their families in the hospital.”

The emergency room’s main walk-in entrance was shut down for a short time, but the emergency room continued in operation after the shooting.

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