Bronx man indicted in Jacobi Hospital shooting
NEW YORK - A grand jury has indicted a Bronx man in the shooting of a patient inside a waiting room at Jacobi Medical Center back in January, the district attorney announced on Thursday.
Keber Martinez, 25, was arraigned on attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and other charges. Justice George Villegas ordered Martinez to be held without bail, the DA's office said.
"The defendant allegedly opened fire near patients including a mother and her baby, as well as emergency healthcare professionals, who ran for their lives," Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement. "We are thankful that the shooter was swiftly apprehended, due to hospital cameras capturing the attack."
Martinez walked into Health + Hospitals/Jacobi on Jan. 25, signed in at the reception desk, and spoke briefly with a staffer, according to the NYPD. Then at some point, Martinez got into a verbal dispute with a 35-year-old man who was sitting in the ER waiting area, police said.
The indictment accuses Martinez of pulling out a handgun and firing four times at the 35-year-old man, hitting him once in the left arm, the DA's office said in a news release. A hospital security camera captured footage of the brazen shooting and mayhem.
Within minutes of the gunfire, cops had surrounded the hospital, which is just across the street from the station house of the 49th Precinct in the Morris Park section.
The gunman initially got away, police said. But detectives arrested Martinez in Harlem a few hours later because they had the security video and his name from the sign-in.
The victim was rushed into surgery and survived, police said.
The indictment charged Martinez with second degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, two counts of second-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a firearm, third-degree assault, second-degree menacing, second-degree reckless endangerment, and two counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
He is due back in court on Aug. 24.