IJF employees report scenes of ‘terror’ with murder in hospital: ‘a lot of people felt sick’ – Security

Screams, rushing and “total panic” summarize the scenario experienced by patients and workers at the Dr. José Frota Institute (IJF), in Fortaleza, this Tuesday morning (23), after a hospital employee was shot and decapitated during office hours.

In an interview with Northeast Diary and on Verdinha FM 92.5, employees who were at the scene during the crime describe the “moments of terror” when they heard the shots that killed a waiter at the hospital unit, whose identity has not yet been disclosed.

“Everyone protected themselves as best they could”

One of the sources interviewed for the report, who prefers not to be identified, has worked at the IJF for decades and states that witnessing shootings and murders inside the hospital is not unprecedented. “They have killed people in the emergency room, in the infirmary. And now, an employee,” she laments.

In any case, the situation generated a “reaction of dread”. “We heard the bangs, we closed the doors to the rooms, we all stayed down, behind the walls, we locked ourselves in. And patients and companions were left in the corridors, at their mercy. Everyone protected themselves as best they could,” she confesses.

My blood pressure went up, I had to take medication. Many people went to the resuscitation room and needed medication, and many employees who were treated went home, unable to stay here.

IJF employee

When they opened the doors, the worker and her colleagues saw employees running to get away from the place where the shots were fired: the area where food is prepared, away from assistance and to which only those who work at the IJF have access.

“For us, the motivation for the crime doesn’t matter, but it was within our work. If someone comes in, kills them and leaves like that, even with a huge number of police officers and guards here, how many people could he have killed?”, he criticizes, adding that the security protocols did not work.

“If someone from our family arrives here, they won’t come in. No snacks or anything. How did he get in, with his backpack and everything? Not even a companion comes in with a backpack”, he emphasizes.

“Within your work sector, you imagine that you are protected. But we don’t have any protection inside the hospital”, she laments. The server also informed that “the boy who lost his life was a waiter”, well-liked by his colleagues who worked alongside him.

Another person on the IJF staff remembers being in the bathroom when the crime happened. “I left in a hurry and all the staff, patients and companions were already running from one side to the other, screaming”, he describes.

In addition to the waiter murdered in the hospital, a colleague of his was shot and had to undergo a surgical procedure. His health status was not disclosed.

“Everyone is in panic, there is a lot of insecurity”, he added.

“The fight for security is old”

Another professional who was on duty during the murder, social worker Meirelane Barros stated, in an interview with Verdinha FM 92.5, that “the workers are completely shaken”, despite being faced with an “old” demand.

“We understand that security has a much larger dimension, in terms of society. But we also understand that when we leave home to work there will be minimal working conditions, one of which is an environment protected from this violence”, he highlights.

Unfortunately, today we went to work and we are shaken, because there was a shooting. This fight for security within the IJF is not new.

Meirelane Barros

IJF social worker

The social worker reports that she was in the health unit’s emergency corridor when she heard the shots. “We were attending and, suddenly, chaos ensues. It was something I’ve never experienced in my life and I hope I don’t,” she declares.

“May the City Hall and the State look at this place. Our cry remains so that we don’t experience this again”, concludes Meirelane.

On Tuesday morning (23), a few hours after the crime, IJF employees and service providers erected posters in protest against the insecurity in the area.

What the Public Authorities say

The Secretary of Public Security of Ceará, Samuel Elânio, stated that the murder at the IJF was a “crime of passion”, committed by a former employee of the unit, who was fired in 2022, but managed to access the location through facial recognition.

In response to Mayor José Sarto (PDT), who criticized the “paralysis of the State Government in combating factions”, the head of the SSPDS stated that the incident “is not about public security”.

The suspect of murdering the hospital unit employee was arrested this Tuesday afternoon (23), in the district of Patacas, in Aquiraz, in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza, as Governor Elmano de Freitas (PT) shared on social media.