Police: Hospital Gunman Hit Wrong Person

Investigators outside the emergency room of Doctors Hospital in Columbus, GA., where one of the triple homicides took place on 03/27/08. (Dave Bender)

A man who held a grudge against a worker at the hospital where his mother died shot and killed the wrong person, investigators testified Monday, citing a confession to the slayings of three people.


Johnston, suspected in triple homicide. (Columbus Police)

Charles Johnston, 63, told authorities he took extra ammunition and three guns to the scene because he "didn't know what to expect," the detectives said.

Johnston was ordered held without bond at the hearing in Columbus Recorders Court, where he appeared in a wheelchair. An officer shot Johnston in the shoulder after the killings Thursday at Doctors Hospital in Columbus.

A court-appointed attorney for Johnston has not been named. Charles Lykins, who represented Johnston at Monday's hearing as public defender for the Recorder's Court, had no comment.

The hearing came just hours after funerals were held for two of the victims — registered nurse Peter Wright, 44, and James Baker, 76, who was shot getting out of his car in the parking lot.
Police say Johnston held a grudge and targeted a male nurse who had worked at the hospital who he said had provided negligent care to his mother before her death in 2004.

Detective Joby Duncan said that he took Johnston's statement after he signed a waiver of his rights, and that the confession was videotaped.

"He just told me that that morning he woke up and was tired of thinking about what happened to his mother years ago," Duncan said.

Johnston told police he went to the hospital twice Thursday to look for "an individual he knew as Peterson to settle something with him," Duncan said.

Johnston left when he didn't find the person he was looking for, then returned about an hour later and began shooting, Duncan said.

Wright, who was working on the fifth floor, was shot after Johnston heard someone call him 'Pete,' police said.

"Peter Wright never attended (Johnston's) mother at the Doctors Hospital," police Lt. Charles Kennedy said. "I am assuming he just made a mistake because he overheard a guy being called Peter.

"He just mistakenly shot Peter Wright thinking it was Peterson," he said.

Next shot was Leslie Harris, a 44-year-old administrative assistant who was shot in the chest after he happened upon the shooter.

Duncan said Johnston later shot Baker in the head, wrongly believing Baker pulled into a parking space in front of him to "prevent him from escaping."

Nurse Karen Pridgen was one of several witnesses at the hearing. Visibly shaken, she recalled seeing Wright and Harris shot and hearing gunfire and some of what Johnston said to Wright.

"I heard him say ... 'You killed my mama,'" Pridgen said.

Johnston did not testify. Kennedy said police are not trying to find out the identity of the nurse Johnston was looking for, saying the investigation is focused on the triple homicide.

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(The Associated Press)

Names of Columbus shooting victims released

Columbus Police Command and Control van outside of the emergency room of Doctors Hospital in Columbus, GA., where one of the shootings took place, on Thursday, March 27, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Authorities have identified two of the three victims of Thursday's revenge shooting at Doctors Hospital in Columbus.

Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren identified the two as 44-year-old Peter D. Wright and 76-year-old James David Baker. A third person who was shot and killed in the attack has not yet been identified.

Wright was shot inside the hospital and Baker was shot and killed a short time later outside, in the hospital's parking lot.

Charles Johnston, who police say shot and killed the three, has been confirmed as having taught for the Muscogee County School District:

"Charles Johnston was a full-time employee for MCSD from September 1973 to December 1973 at Rothschild Junior High (Teacher's Aide) before resigning. In March 1997 he enrolled in the substitute training class and is last listed as receiving pay from the MCSD in May 2007 as a substitute teacher,"

Valerie Fuller, MCSD director of communications said in a statement released Friday.

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(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

Columbus: Third shooting victim dies

Law-enforcement officials confer near a Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime scene van in the parking lot of Doctors Hospital, Columbus, GA., on March 27, 2008. (Dave Bender)

A person who was shot in the head and critically wounded in Thursday afternoon's shooting spree at Doctors Hospital in Columbus, died of their wounds this evening.

The individual was shot in the hospital's parking lot by a man who police said bore a grudge against staffers who had treated his mother several years earlier. The man shot and killed the other two victims in the hospital a short time earlier.

The three have not been identified as this update was posted, pending notification of their families.

Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren said 63-year-old Charles Johnston, a retired Muscogee County schoolteacher killed a male nurse who had taken care of his mother, who had died at the hospital from natural causes:

“The individual had carried a grudge against at least one of the nurses involved in her care from 2004 until today. He came here to the hospital carrying three weapons. He was carrying a nine millimeter automatic, a .380 automatic and a .32 revolver.”

Larry Sanders, CEO of Columbus Regional Hospital released a statement over the slaying:

"On behalf of the board of directors, medical staff and all the employees of Doctors Hospital and the entire Columbus Regional family, I extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the vicitms in this shooting. We are deeply saddened at the tragic loss of these three lives. We are reminded of how a tragedy can strike without warning and that life is precious. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of their families. We ask that everyone in the community keep them in their thougts and prayers as well."

Information about family members who were at the hospital at the time of the shootings is available at 706-494-4057.

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