Another Maryland Hospital Killing, Among Growing Number of Workplace Violence Incidents

An employee was attacked and killed inside a Bethesda, Maryland hospital January 1, forcing the facility to lock down for several hours while police searched for an assailant. The 40-year-old worker was assaulted in a non-patient care area of Suburban Hospital at about 10:30 a.m., a spokeswoman said. The hospital was locked down for several hours, and no one was allowed to leave, while police conducted a thorough search of the hospital and grounds. Patients, staff and visitors were safe throughout the ordeal and kept apprised of the situation via personnel in a command center established at the hospital in case of an event or disaster, she said. The hospital was reopened at about 2:25 p.m. local time. A Montgomery County Police spokeswoman said the assailant was not found during the search and that the case was being treated as a homicide. Back in September 3010, a man in Baltimore, Maryland entered John Hopkins Hospital during which he shot a doctor, killed his mother, and then committed suicide.