Three Penn Presbyterian Medical Center nurses were injured early Saturday morning by a driver dropping off a person who had been shot.
At 4:22 a.m., a silver Jeep Cherokee brought a 28-year-old man shot multiple times to the emergency room entrance. The staffers ran outside to treat the man when they were struck by the driver, believed to be a man possibly in his early 20s, as he fled the scene, NBC10 reported.
MORE: SS United States, landlord reach settlement for artificial reefing in Florida
One nurse, a 36-year-old man, sustained facial injuries and internal bleeding and is hospitalized in critical condition. The other two, a 51-year-old man injured in his head and back and a 37-year-old man injured in the legs, are in stable condition.
The shooting took place on the 1300 block of Belmont Avenue in Parkside, police said. The 28-year-old who was shot received a head injury when the driver departed, as well.
A statement from Penn Medicine said that hospital staffers continued caring for the gunshot victim while their colleagues were being treated. Penn Medicine is cooperating with Philadelphia Police and providing support to the nurses families.
"In a workplace where teams are devoted to caring for others, this incident is devastating to our staff, and is a reminder of the tragic, far-reaching toll of gun violence on entire communities," the statement said. "Violence against healthcare workers harms us all, and is a corrosive, unacceptable threat which our staff must cope with on a daily basis."
City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who represents Penn Presbyterian's district, said the staffers at the hospital are on the front lines of Philly's gun violence crisis as a Level 1 Trauma Center for adults.
“Every day they come face-to-face with gruesome pain and suffering to care for us during the most traumatic moments of our lives," Gauthier said. "It is unfathomable to me that someone would drive their car into our neighbors charged with healing."
