A man on parole for a violent crime was allowed to visit a Dallas hospital for the birth of his child and ended up killing two nurses after reportedly accusing his girlfriend of cheating on him in the maternity ward, according to authorities.
Nestor Hernandez was arrested at the hospital on Saturday and now faces capital murder charges, FOX 4 News reports.
The 30-year-old reportedly shot and killed two employees at the Methodist Dallas Medical Center, said the Dallas Police Department, who responded to the hospital at about 11 a.m. after receiving reports of an active shooting.
Hernandez was eventually shot by a Methodist Health System Police officer and was detained, stabilized, and taken to another hospital for treatment, the hospital stated.
He was reportedly on parole in some form of home supervision, with an active ankle monitor on, when authorities permitted him to visit the hospital for the birth of his child.
“The Methodist Health System Family is heartbroken at the loss of two of our beloved team members,” said a statement from the medical system’s executive leadership. “Our entire organization is grieving this unimaginable tragedy.”
Hernandez was on parole for an aggravated robbery he committed back in 2015, and had an ankle monitor on at the time of the shooting, according to CNN.
According to a 2015 indictment, Hernandez and a female suspect attacked a woman while she returned home from work. The duo restrained her hands and also covered her eyes with tape, whereupon Hernandez took her car, phone, and $3,000 in cash for a school fundraiser, according to the outlet.
The victim in that case sustained a fractured eye and broken nose, with Hernandez pleading guilty in May 2015. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
FOX 4 reports that Hernandez had an extensive and violent criminal record, with the outlet uncovering arrests for robbery, drug possession, assault of a public servant and burglary, all in Dallas County alone.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia called the shooting “an abhorrent failure of our criminal justice system,” in a statement provided shortly after the deadly shootings.
Garcia added he was “outraged” by the lack of accountability and “an abhorrent failure of our criminal justice system” in regards to Hernandez’s early release, which led to Saturday’s tragic murders.
Garcia went on to say that “we give violent criminals more chances than our victims,” calling the justice system “broken.”
CNN reports that Hernandez had been “acting strangely” in the moments leading up to the shooting, and reportedly accused his girlfriend of infidelity, according to an arrest warrant obtained by CNN affiliate WFAA.
Hernandez began searching the closet and bathroom for someone else who he believed to have been in the hospital room after accusing his girlfriend of cheating, the warrant states.
He then pulled out a weapon from his pants and hit his girlfriend several times in the head, before siting on a couch and telling her “we are both going to die today” and that “whoever comes in this room is going to die with us.”
The suspect produced a weapon from his pants and struck his girlfriend multiple times in the head, according to the warrant.
A hospital employee entered the room moments later to provide services to Hernandez’s girlfriend, prompting him to fatally shot the nurse.
Another hospital worker and a Methodist Hospital System Police officer heard the gunshot from a nearby hallway. When the second staff member entered the room and saw the first victim laying on the floor, Hernandez allegedly opened fire again and killed them.
Neither of the victims names have been released as of Monday.
