Who knew waiting at a doctor’s office could result in a potentially dangerous situation? “Code Silver” was declared at St. Vincent’s Blount located in Oneonta, Alabama on April 9th, 2021. Hospital staff raced to safety for themselves and most of the patients on campus. An unstable 29-year-old male reportedly released himself from the hospital only to make a surprising and unfortunate choice. Matthew Pettry of Empire, Alabama allegedly broke into a vehicle parked in the hospital parking lot and stole a firearm.
We interviewed David Brewer, a man who was there for a physical therapy appointment. He left traumatized from the event and disgusted with the way it was handled by the hospital.
At 12:36 pm, Mr. Brewer pulled into the parking lot of St. Vincent’s Blount and saw a man (Matthew Pettry, later identified as the cause for the Code Silver) in a hospital gown with red shorts, shoes, and a blue band around his arm likely from having blood drawn. Mr. Brewer stated the man looked off like he was lost or confused, further solidifying his feelings of unease he watched moments later as Mr. Pettry walked straight into the glass at the hospital entrance. Mr. Brewer went on to the physical therapy office for his appointment. He said, “I checked the door to see if physical therapy had opened back up from lunch. I returned to my seat in the waiting area and looked at my watch which said 1:06 pm. Then, people started running and an announcement was made over the intercom, Code Silver!” Mr. Brewer looked to the office staff for guidance, and they yelled at him to run down the hall instead of letting him in the back or even telling him what was going on. Mr. Brewer proceeded down the hall and the first place he came to was radiology. He tapped on the glass looking for instructions. He even knew one of the people on the other side of the glass. Instead of letting him in, they told him to go to registration and slid a sticky note under the door telling him to come back in 15 minutes. They stopped responding to him after this. Concerned, and still unaware of what was happening, Mr. Brewer pulled out his phone and googled “Code Silver”. The results said, active shooter. Mr. Brewer’s adrenaline was now pumping. Mr. Brewer is a law-abiding citizen with a concealed carry permit but did not have a firearm on his person due to the hospital being a gun-free zone. Feeling helpless, he got down behind a wall and grabbed a chair to use as a weapon in case the gunman came near. He thought to himself, “I am going to die, this guy is going to shoot me so I may as well try to stop him so he can’t hurt anyone.” After a few more minutes, though it felt like hours, a woman came walking in. He proceeded to tell her about the situation and to take cover. She informed him that the police had arrested someone outside. The hospital did not announce an all-clear or give any description of the gunman. At this point, his feelings turned from fear to disgust. This was a disgraceful way to handle this type of situation. Mr. Brewer spoke with an administrator of the hospital. The administrator said, “I am sorry this doesn’t usually happen. This is not supposed to happen here, it’s supposed to happen at St. Vincent’s East.”
Mr. Brewer said he would like the hospital to come up with a plan, and for the staff to actually be trained on it to keep everyone safe. Their current plan of locking established patients out and not having any security in a gun-free zone is completely unacceptable. Mr. Brewer later filed an incident report with an Oneonta police officer. According to the officer, Mr. Pettry had been arrested earlier and transferred to St. Vincent’s Blount.
Pettry was arrested for theft, breaking into a vehicle, and disorderly conduct. He is currently in the Blount County Jail with a $34,000 Bond. Thankfully no one was injured.