Four researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore reviewed 11 years of data and identified the following key points:
• Nearly 30 percent of U.S. hospital-based shootings occurred in emergency departments.
• 50 percent of the ED incidents involved a police or security officer’s firearm that was either stolen to shoot victims or used by security to fire at an assailant.
• Most perpetrators had a personal association with victims.
• Common motives for shootings are grudges or revenge, suicide and euthanizing an ill relative.
The researchers concluded that specialized training for law enforcement and security personnel may be a more effective way to prevent future incidents than investment in expensive or intrusive technologies, such as magnetometers.
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