Patients, witnesses talk deadly medical facility shooting

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind.--

Many families feared the worst after finding out there was a shooting at the Elm Road St. Joseph Medical Campus.

Two women, waiting for an appointment at South Bend Orthopaedics say they heard two gunshots in the parking lot before they saw a guy take off running.

One was allowed to go inside the center but was told to wait a bit before she could leave as the compound was locked down.

Sue, another patient, was held inside the center until police was sure there wasn’t an active shooter.

“I had to wait for a few seconds then they saw me and ushered me upstairs to an office with several other people,” she said. “They were fairly calm and everybody, including myself, was on the phone trying to find out information.”

Another patient was locked inside another building in the compound with her husband and four kids.

“She knocked on the door and opened the door and said ‘there’s an active shooter everyone needs to go to the x-ray room,” said Danika Needham.

Amid the chaos outside, Needham tried to keep her family calm.

“My kids were walking out and they’re like ‘what’s going on?’ and I said, ‘we’re doing a drill,’” said Needham.

Her family was secured in a room with a nurse who had been with the victim just moments before his death.

“She was outside when the gentleman pulled up and aimed a gun at the doctor,” said Needham. “And the doctor looked at her and the other person she was outside with and told her to run.”

She says the nurse looked distraught but tried to maintain her composure, not to upset the other patients.

After 20 minutes, her family was allowed to leave.

That’s when she caught a terrifying glimpse of the scene.

“The only thing that really just traumatized me is I had never seen a dead body before,” she said. “And I looked over by the white vehicle and there’s this gentleman on the floor.”

Needham says the staff inside the facility did all they could to make sure everyone remained calm.

She wanted to express again how thankful she and her family were to everyone that helped.