Stacey Hayes had a beef with his co-worker, Anrae James, so the 55-year-old male nursing assistant went on a rampage. Philadelphia healthcare workers are homicidally edgy these days, it seems. After killing James, he shot it out with the police across town. Nobody is saying what the motive was but there’s speculation it had something to do with vaccine status or lack thereof. It’s plausible because that debate’s been raging so fiercely across America, thanks to the media fanning the flames.
Hospital worker rampage
A local judge was gracious enough to return the three firearms Stacey Hayes had confiscated from him. His petition states Hayes wanted his handgun, shotgun, AR-15 rifle, and ammunition back “because the property was purchased legally by me, I didn’t commit any crime and I feel like the property should be returned to me because I am not a threat to anyone.”
Less than two months later, he went on a rampage using those same weapons. “I just want to be able to protect myself and my family if needed,” he lied to the court.
Chief Inspector Frank Vanore confirmed that the security cameras show “Hayes getting off an elevator on Monday, October 4, and ‘walking directly toward’ James before opening fire.”
We at the 16th district are proud of our officers who, undoubtedly saved numerous lives by neutralizing a dangerous threat. https://t.co/HqInmDR5fd
— PPD 16thDistrict (@PPD16Dist) October 4, 2021
Authorities aren’t sure if Hayes was on the clock at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital when the rampage started, but he came in through the employee entrance wearing “body armor and carrying multiple weapons.” Anrae James, 43-year-old CNA, was pronounced dead at the scene after being hit six times.
Police are still trying to figure out a motive for the murder. The two men knew each other at work but police “have not discovered any hostility between them, or any issues that we can point out.”
He fled the scene in a U-haul and managed to elude police until his rampage flared up again a few miles away and over an hour later.
More shots fired
Over an hour after the hospital shooting the rampage continued. A “person flagged down officers and said a man wearing scrubs was seen carrying a gun and possibly firing shots into the air.”
As explained by Philadelphia Police Chief Danielle Outlaw, “four officers responded to the location about 4 miles away from the hospital.” Stacy decided to shoot at them too.
A gun battle ensued, ending the rampage but not before two officers were wounded, one 32-year-old officer “was struck in the nose.” He is listed in stable condition. The other officer “is a 30-year-old who was struck in the right elbow. He is in critical, but stable condition.”
Both officers “were expected to survive as well as the suspect, who has been in critical condition.” After the dust cleared, the evidence team determined Hayes fired “76 rounds at police officers.”
They took the rampage killer to a different hospital than the one he shot up earlier, due to the obvious conflict of interest. Doctors at TJU weren’t expected to be real “motivated” to go out of their way to save him.
As noted by Chief Outlaw, ll four officers “returned fire, striking the hospital worker in the upper body and neck. He was arrested and taken to a separate hospital, where he is expected to survive.”
