Hospitals

Police said Charles Johnston, 63, reportedly a retired Muscogee County school teacher, for years held a grudge against a Doctors Hospital nurse who had treated his mother before she died at the hospital in 2004. Shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday, according to Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren, Johnston came to the hospital with three weapons: a .32-caliber revolver, a .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol and a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol.

Johnston went to the fifth floor, shot the male nurse he was looking for, and mortally wounded an administrative assistant, authorities said.

He then went downstairs, emerging from the emergency room doors and heading into the parking lot. There, a man pulled up in a pickup truck. Thinking the man was trying to stop him, Johnston shot the pickup driver in the head, Boren said.

The nurse was killed on the fifth floor, Boren said. The administrative assistant and truck driver died later in surgery.

The identities of the dead were withheld pending the notification of their relatives.

In the parking lot, the suspect shot at a deputy marshal responding to a 911 call that came in at 2:17 p.m., Boren said.

The deputy marshal shot back at Johnston, but did not hit him, Boren said. A motorcycle patrol officer then raced into the lot and exchanged fire with the suspect, but also missed, Boren said. Then a detective in a Chevrolet Malibu pulled into the parking lot, blocking Johnston’s Ford station wagon, and when Johnston fired on him, the detective shot the suspect in the upper-right shoulder, Boren said.

Johnston was taken to The Medical Center for surgery and was in stable condition. He’s being guarded and has been charged with murder, Boren said.

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