-Caveat Lector- San Antonio Express-News (Texas) September 6, 2002, Friday , STATE SECTION: METRO / SOUTH TEXAS; Pg. 2B LENGTH: 366 words HEADLINE: Patient arrested after flare gun scare at hospital BYLINE: Katherine Leal Unmuth
BODY: A man at Audie Murphy VA Hospital shot two staffers with a flare gun, then holed up in a second-floor office for more than an hour Thursday before police negotiators talked him out. The man arrived around 11:30 a.m. at the hospital's mental health unit, where he shot a social worker and a psychiatrist with an orange plastic flare gun. The two women were not seriously injured. Police arrested a veteran who was being treated at the hospital for schizophrenia. His name was not immediately released. Hospital workers reported that the attacker told them he was upset that they had implanted a "microchip" inside him. "He expressed that he felt that we had implanted something in his body that made him hear voices and he wanted it taken out," said Jose Coronado, director of the South Texas Veterans Health System. Coronado also said the man had stopped taking his medication. The man first entered the office of social worker Yvette Huerta and shot her in her left arm and chest, police said. "We saw sparks coming out of the office and thought a computer was malfunctioning," said Iva Timmerman, a psychiatrist and 15-year veteran of the hospital who also was injured in the incident. "Then we saw him following her." As Timmerman and others tried to get to cover, she said, the man shot her from behind. She said it felt like a "racquetball bouncing off my shoulder." "He was firing at people," she added. "He was picking and firing. He chose people." Police evacuated about 30 people, including patients and employees, from the west wing of the building in the 7400 block of Merton Minter. The rest of the hospital remained open, Coronado said. Timmerman said schizophrenics who stop taking their medication may withdraw from society or become paranoid. Some can become violent. "We can't predict violence," she said. "A lot of people threaten violence and never carry it out." Police spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino applauded the negotiators for defusing a situation that could have developed into a much longer standoff. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Staff Writer Emanuel Gonzales contributed to this report. ===== San Antonio Express-News (Texas) September 12, 2002, Thursday , METRO SECTION: METRO / SOUTH TEXAS; Pg. 2B LENGTH: 806 words HEADLINE: News Roundup Squad finds fake pipe bomb A hoax bomb was found early Wednesday morning in a van that had been parked at Audie Murphy VA Hospital for several days. VA police investigated the 1975 Dodge van in the 7400 block of Merton Minter at about 1 a.m. because it had been sitting there unattended, said San Antonio Arson Detective David Tedford. The bomb squad disarmed the device, which was found to be an 8- to 10-inch galvanized pipe filled with sand, Tedford said. Evidence in the vehicle was found with the name of Robert Sterling Bobbit - the man arrested Sept. 5 for allegedly shooting two staffers with a flare gun at the hospital. Bobbit, who hospital officials said was being treated for paranoid schizophrenia, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was still in Bexar County Jail on Wednesday in lieu of $100,000 bond. ==== Klauer in September talked a schizophrenic patient holed up at the Audie Murphy VA Hospital into giving himself up after two hospital staffers were shot with a flare pistol. Robert Sterling Bobbit complained that the government inserted a microchip in him that was driving him crazy. "With people who are crazed like that, you have to give them time to vent so that you can bring them to their senses," Klauer said. ___________ San Antonio Express-News (Texas) January 11, 2003, Saturday , METRO SECTION: METRO / SOUTH TEXAS; Pg. 1B LENGTH: 721 words HEADLINE: School for standoffs ; Annual event helps police hone theirnegotiating skills. BYLINE: Manny Gonzales BODY: SAN MARCOS - Jeff Johnson was described as a deadly sexual predator with a penchant for pregnant women and little boys. Earlier this week, Johnson and two cohorts armed with rifles and what seemed like bad intentions entered a bank filled with employees, customers and two expectant mothers. "Johnson" was not really a sex-offending bank robber, though; he was a police officer playing a part. And this wasn't a real bank robbery; it was a mock scenario intended to train and test negotiators. As police surrounded the building, negotiators searched for the words that would coax the gunmen into giving up. "If I have to hurt them, I'll hurt them," Johnson yelled to a negotiator over the phone. "It won't be the first time I've hurt someone, and it sure ... won't be the last." Police negotiators from across the state converged on Southwest Texas State University this week to train and compete against each other by defusing simulated yet realistic hostage crises. The Bexar County Sheriff's Department and San Antonio Police Department were among the 30 or so other agencies represented at the 13th annual competition sponsored by the SWT criminal justice program, the San Marcos Police Department and the Hays County Sheriff's Office. "We all treat these scenarios like they're the real thing," said SAPD Sgt. Eddie Klauer, supervisor of the department's hostage negotiation team. "You'll see us running around, pulling our hair out and yelling at each other. It gets intense." Police agencies began training officers to deal with hostage negotiations as early as the 1970s when people began to believe that SWAT teams should be used only as a last resort. "There are two types (of) mentalities at work when we respond to hostage situations," Bexar County Sheriff's Sgt. R.D. Zeigler said. "There are the SWAT guys who want to go in there and get the guy. And then there's us, the negotiators who want to see everyone come out safe, even the hostage-taker." Recent incidents in San Antonio have shown a need for trained negotiators. Last May, Paul Wiseman, 45, had just lost a $10 million lawsuit. Authorities allege that he took two women hostage at a Northwest Side San Antonio Federal Credit Union armed with four rifles. After nine hours, he shot himself in the shoulder before surrendering to negotiators who promised that he'd be allowed to talk to his doctor and son. "We do our best to keep our word and not lie," Klauer said. "If a negotiator is caught in a lie, then we have to start over from scratch and try to rebuild trust with a different negotiator." Klauer in September talked a schizophrenic patient holed up at the Audie Murphy VA Hospital into giving himself up after two hospital staffers were shot with a flare pistol. Robert Sterling Bobbit complained that the government inserted a microchip in him that was driving him crazy. "With people who are crazed like that, you have to give them time to vent so that you can bring them to their senses," Klauer said. One of the city's most publicized hostage standoffs occurred three years ago when a man claiming to have a live grenade held Archbishop Patrick Flores and a secretary hostage at the Catholic Chancery. SAPD Officer Barbara Williams, a 10-year veteran in police negotiation, was one of the officers on the team that ended the nine-hour standoff. On Thursday, Williams' challenge was to calmly talk "Jeff Johnson" into surrendering. Described as a 39-year-old prison escapee who admitted to raping his own mother, Johnson started to come on to Williams even as he threatened to kill hostages. But good negotiators don't let emotions get to them. They're trained to identify the hostage-taker's personality and know how to deal with it. They're good listeners and know that as long as the hostage-takers are talking, they aren't killing. But in this exercise, there was an extra element negotiators had to deal with; an armed security guard with a "Rambo" complex was hiding in a back room. "You never know what you're going to encounter in these exercises or in real life," Bexar Sheriff's negotiator Victor Rocha said. "But this competition should prepare us for anything." [EMAIL PROTECTED] ==== San Antonio Express-News (Texas) June 13, 2003, Friday , METRO SECTION: METRO / SOUTH TEXAS; Pg. 2B LENGTH: 1095 words HEADLINE: News Roundup BODY: SAN ANTONIO Veteran faces time in hospital assaults A veteran could face up to 15 years in prison for shooting two staffers at Audie Murphy VA Hospital last year. Robert Sterling Bobbit pleaded no contest this week to aggravated assault charges and will ask for probation at his July 7 sentencing. He entered into a plea deal in exchange for a lenient sentence, but prosecutors said they would oppose probation and recommend no more than 15 years imprisonment. On Sept. 5, 2002, Bobbit shot a social worker and a psychiatrist at the hospital's mental health unit. He was holed up in the hospital for more than an hour before police negotiators talked him out. The two staffers weren't seriously injured. ==== San Antonio Express-News (Texas) July 22, 2003, Tuesday , STATE SECTION: METRO / SOUTH TEXAS; Pg. 2B LENGTH: 867 words HEADLINE: NEWS ROUNDUP BODY: SAN ANTONIO - Man sentenced in flare gun standoff A schizophrenic patient who holed up at the Audie Murphy VA Hospital in September and shot two staffers with a flare pistol was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison. Robert Sterling Bobbit had complained that the hospital inserted a microchip inside him that was driving him crazy. He shot the two staffers, and a standoff with police lasted more than an hour before trained hostage negotiators talked him out. The two employees were not seriously injured. Bobbit entered the no contest plea to an aggravated assault charge after doctors gave conflicting opinions as to whether he was competent to stand trial. The plea deal offered a prison sentence cap of 15 years. Assistant District Attorney Liza Rodriguez Duron said the sentence likely was the result of Bobbit's criminal record, which includes a 10-year sentence in South Dakota on an aggravated assault conviction stemming from a bar brawl. www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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