May 22, 2008 — Following Wednesday's execution-style slaying of a patient at Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital on St. Croix, security procedures are coming under review at the sister facility on St. Thomas, according to hospital personnel.
Members of the District Governing Board of the Schneider Regional Medical Center (SRMC) were told by Director of Security Gideon Garfield that he and another member of his department are training to become auxiliary police officers. But Garfield said more in his department need that training to better address security needs, according to a release issued Thursday by the SRMC.
He reportedly told the board that he would support legislation to establish a hospital police force, saying the local police force is understaffed and unable to "cover all circumstances," according to the release. Calls to the Virgin Islands Police Department for comment were not returned.
Meanwhile, the release said Garfield and Karen Hodges, the vice president for facilities management and capital improvements, told board members that security improvements under way or planned for the future include: limited points of entry after hours, monitored video surveillance, lighting of doorways, walkways, and parking lots. Additionally, they noted that access to patient care units is limited with coded keypads, and that security officers patrol the floors challenging anyone without proper identification.
No one from Roy Lester Schneider Hospital returned calls for comment on the release. Hodges declined to talk without clearance.
The St. Croix hospital went into temporary lockdown Wednesday after five armed, masked men entered through the rear of the facility sometime between 3:15 and 3:45 a.m., tied up a guard, threatened maintenance workers, and made their way to Shadrach Frett’s third-floor room, where they shot him multiple times, according to police.
Frett, 23, had been arrested May 12 along with another unidentified man after an early-morning shooting spree that netted several weapons for police and left the area strewn with shell casings.
The Virgin Islands government has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers.
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