Suspect arrested in Jacobi ER shooting;
staff detail months of violence in hospital
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Shortly before midnight Tuesday, police
used check-in information to arrest
Keber Martinez, the suspect who fi red
four shots in the waiting room of Jacobi
Medical Center and injured a 35-yearold
man on Tuesday. But Tuesday’s incident,
staff at Jacobi Medical Center
told the Bronx Times, is an escalation of
a string of violent workplace incidents
that is endangering the safety of Bronx
medical workers.
“I’m not surprised that we had an active
shooter (on Tuesday), it was just a
matter of time,” said Amrit Saini, a resident
at Jacobi. “I’m surprised that we
don’t have more measures to protect our
residents and other staff.”
Police said the victim was waiting
to see a doctor, when Martinez showed
up to visit a patient. The two previously
knew each other, according to investigators,
and a staredown led to Martinez
shooting the victim in the left forearm
at roughly 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, before
evading police until later that night.
Martinez is being charged with attempted
murder, reckless endangerment,
and criminal possession of weapons,
authorities said. Martinez had six
prior arrests for assault, drugs, grand
larceny and criminal possession of a
weapon, with the most recent charge in
May 2020.
But the scars from Tuesday, and from
subsequent months prior to the shooting
are still fresh for Jacobi medical staff,
who have dealt with physical and verbal
assaults without much intervention
from the city or NYC Health + Hospitals,
which operates the public hospitals and
clinics.
Saini, who said he has been physically
attacked by a patient times six
times over the last 18 months, said that
Jacobi security had to confi scate four
fi rearms from patients in various areas
of the hospital in recent months, which
has prompted a new procedure where
hospital police will wand any “agitated”
patients arriving at the emergency department.
But law enforcement said in a Tuesday
afternoon press conference following
the incident that no weapon checks
were conducted in the hospital waiting
room before Martinez opened fi re.
“However, the majority of patients
will not be wanded upon entrance to the
ED,” Saini said. “The emergency department
administration is doing everything
they can to help with safety concerns but
we also need help from NYC Health +
Hospital and the city to increase funding
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 2 JAN. 28-FEB. 3, 2022 BTR
Police used check-in information to arrest Keber Martinez, the suspect who shot a 35-yearold
victim while in the waiting room of Jacobi Medical Center on Tuesday.
Photo | Adrian Childres
to help protect the healthcare staff
when we are treating our patients in the
Bronx.”
In a statement, NYC Health + Hospitals
said that no employees at Jacobi
Medical were injured in the gunfi re, and
called the incident “cowardly.”
“This was a cowardly act in a space
where New Yorkers come for healing
and care,” the statement reads. “Our
health care heroes swiftly took care of
the shooting victim and took actions to
protect the other patients in the waiting
room. Our immediate focus is on caring
for the patient and ensuring the safety of
our staff.”
Komal Bajaj, chief quality offi cer at
Jacobi Medical Center said that “gun violence
is a public health emergency.”
A second-year resident, who requested
anonymity fearing retaliation
from her employer, said that Jacobi had
seen a pattern of violence and that she
had been a victim of an assault by an unruly
patient over the summer, but that
NYC Health + Hospitals failed to beef up
its security following patterns of attacks
on residents.
The exposure to violence at Jacobi
isn’t just limited to hospital staff, as patients
like Angelica Howard feel that patient
safety is also being compromised.
“This is a hospital, how does that
happen? How do they not check for weapons
at a place where people are receiving
care or possibly too groggy to activate
our fi ght or fl ight,” said Howard, who receives
dialysis treatments at Jacobi.
Violence hasn’t just been limited to
Jacobi Medical Center though, as other
Bronx hospital have been scenes for
tragic events.
Four and a half years ago, a former
doctor opened fi re inside a Bronx hospital.
Authorities said Dr. Henry Bello fatally
shot one person and wounded six
others at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital on
June 30, 2017, before killing himself.
Jenny Vargas, a former night-shift
nurse at Jacobi who quit after a violent
incident in February believes a violent
culture — “sacrifi cing your mental and
physically for patients” she alleges —
has been allowed to fester by hospital administration.
“I think there’s a lot of doctors,
nurses and medical staff in the Bronx
and honestly, across the nation, who are
tired of being punched in the face, both
literally and fi guratively,” the 26-yearold
told the Bronx Times. “I don’t think
it’s all NYC Health + Hospitals’ fault, but
there is a culture becomes engrained in
you that as a medical personnel, I should
accept being assaulted by my patients, in
order to give the best service.”
Curbing the rising trend in highprofi
le violence is becoming an everyday
issue for Mayor Eric Adams and his
26-day old administration. On Tuesday,
Adams, a Democrat, visited the victim
who is recovering from surgery following
the shooting, and spent the day defending
his plan to combat gun violence.
Adams’ plan includes an immediate
deployment of law enforcement in the
streets and subways, and the reinstatement
of the NYPD’s controversial anticrime
street unit, where offi cers dress as
plain-clothed civilians to get guns off the
street, with an emphasis on preventative
public safety.
The unit will be sent to 30 precincts
across the city, which account for 80% of
gun crimes.
“We’re going to make sure this is
not the Anti-Crime Unit of the old days.
These offi cers are going to wear identifi
able parts of police attire,” the mayor
said. “We’ll never use, under my administration,
any abusive target tactics that
goes after people based on their ethnicity
and where they live.”
Adams’ other proposals include using
facial recognition to identify people
carrying guns, and selectively appointing
judges who are committed to
cracking down on violent offenders.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is also
expected to speak Wednesday at the fi rst
meeting of the Interstate Task Force on
Illegal Guns.