Hopkins incident shows haze in official statements
A shooting incident at Johns Hopkins Hospital today provided a vivid illustration of the difficulty officilals have in putting out a consistent message at a time when events are unfolding quickly.
Shortly after the shooting of a physician at the medical complex just before noon, the city police and Hopkins administration were putting out seemlingly contradictory staements about access to the complex.
The police statement, delivered on Twitter, said the incident had been contained and encouraged those with business at Hopkins to come to the medical center. At about the same time, the Hopkins administration was urging people to stay away because of traffic problems caused by the incident.
After the shooting, the suspect barricaded himself on the eighth floor of the Nelson Building. Shortly before 2 p.m., police reported the suspect had been shot and killed.
Before the man's death, police shut down numerous roads in the vicinity, trying up traffic and forcing the Maryland Transit Administration to reroute buses on its No. 13 route.
Terry Owens, an MTA spokesman, said an underground gate leading from the Hopkins Metro Station to the hospital was closed. However, he said Metro service had not been interrupted and that passengers can still leave the station via an aboveground exit.
A Sun staff member at the scene said traffic remained open on Orleans and Madison streets but that east-west streets between them, including Monument, had been closed. She said Broadway apparently remained open but that Wolfe Street was closed between Madison and Orleans.
Categories: Baltimore Metro, MTA bus system, On the roads
Comments
And even more confusing is if police shot the man, or if he shot himself and his mother. Sad situation.
Posted by: chris87654 | September 16, 2010 2:41 PM
There's nothing inconsistent there. The policy said that if you need to get to Hopkins, you can. Hopkins said that if you don't need to come, don't.
Posted by: Mitch | September 16, 2010 2:51 PM
A situation like this IS confusing, and I'm sorry--and I'm speaking as a former journalist here--it is NOT "officials" priority to make detailed statements when police are in the MIDDLE of a tactical situation, trying to save lives. It's just not POSSIBLE to consistently say what's going on when a difficult situation like that is still happening! And half the confusion is the media in desperation starts reporting rumors they get from witnesses rather than waiting for the facts.
What's more important, police and officials focusing on making sure people's lives are being saved, or making pithy statements one would have to be omniscient to make fully, immediately accurate? Get your priorities straight.
I'm sure now that it's all over, information will clear up. I work at JH East Baltimore and the police did an amazing job. Praise that hard work rather than wishing for the impossible.
Posted by: DQ | September 16, 2010 4:06 PM
The shooter was upset over a botched surgery. Since the shooting itself dominates the story, nothing is being reported about that *really important* part of the story. Are we to understand that the doctor really did botch a surgery, turning a woman into a quadriplegic? When you consider the facts that aren't being reported, it seems a little less outrageous that the man was so distraught that he would think his mother would be better off dead, and that the doctor should pay.
Posted by: James M | September 16, 2010 5:50 PM