I do not know about
you my friends
however, knowing and seeing what has been on going in the V.A.
lately,
I will not feel real comfortable on my next visit to my clinic.
Suspect in VA
shooting told doctor:
'Now you're going to have to listen to me'
Stephen Cometa was
armed
with
AM15,
several loaded magazines
By Erik von Ancken -
Anchor/Reporter , Adrienne Cutway - Web Editor
Posted: 1:08 PM,
December 13, 2016
O.K.
How does a person
with an AM 15 Assault Rifle get into a Military Hospital
or
Clinic that is
staffed with military personal to care for military personal?
About 90% of the
personal being treated
and/or
their spouse need
a handicapped door to get into
the building.
Have you ever tried
to open the doors
without pushing the button?
So,
How in the world did
this man get into the building,
let alone back to the area of the doctor in
question,
with this rifle and a carrier
with the ammunition,
without being
stopped at the door?
Suspect identified
in shooting at Villages VA clinic
Updated: Dec 13,
2016
THE VILLAGES
A man was taken into
custody this morning after a reported shooting at a Veterans Affairs outpatient
clinic at The Villages, said an FBI spokeswoman.
Stephen Cometa was
charged with forcible assault of a federal employee and possession of a firearm
in furtherance of a crime of violence after walking into the building and
firing his AR-15 rifle.
No one was injured
and the FBI is investigating the shooting because it's a federal facility, said
FBI spokeswoman Amanda Videll.
Patients and
employees "were all evacuated" from the building at 8700 SE 165th
Mulberry Lane, Videll said.
As of 12:45 p.m.,
the building was still empty and the Marion County Sheriff's Office Bomb
Squad was brought in as part of the "preliminary investigation,"
Videll said.
But by 2 p.m.,
Videll said that "there does not appear to be any ongoing threat to clinic
staff, patients or the public."
Stephen Cometa had
with him an AM-15 rifle that is "capable of accepting large-capacity
magazines," according to the complaint.
Each magazine
contained 26 rounds of ammo and "the magazines were taped together to
facilitate faster reloading of the rifle," the complaint read.
The 250 staff
members and 150 patients were evacuated from the hospital, and the facility was
closed for the day.
The Marion County
Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad searched the clinic and determined that there is no
ongoing threat to clinic staff, patients or the public. The clinic will reopen
Wednesday morning.
The complaint said
Cometa dropped a backpack in the exam room containing a loaded 9 mm handgun,
additional rifle magazines and a video camera.
Chief Medical
Officer Dr. Todd Donahoe said the clinic will examine its security protocols to
see if improvements can be made.
"We do active
shooter training, just did one in June, very realistic. We treated it as if it
were an emergency, taught the staff how to respond and everyone did exactly
what they were supposed to do," Donahoe said. "Our system
worked, our protocols worked, what we trained our staff to do worked. We're not
on lock down, we're a free society. He had a weapon concealed and took it into
the clinic and then we responded appropriately once that was
discovered."
Donahoe said the
clinic has never had a problem in its 10 years of operation.
"Never had
anything like this happen," said Daniel Rust, a patient at the VA clinic.
"Stuns me something like that would happen in a place like this, with so
much peace and people trying to help one another."
The Marion County
Sheriff's Office is working with the FBI Jacksonville Division to investigate
the shooting.
Cometa is federally
charged with forcible assault of a federal employee and possession of a firearm
during a crime of violence. A clinic spokesman said investigators are looking
into why Cometa may have targeted the doctor.