Enloe shut down when angry father takes guards hostage

Police say Christopher Jamal Berry, 33, tried to get past hospital security in an attempt to see his son, who had undergone an emergency appendectomy at the facility earlier that day. When he was refused, Berry reportedly produced a 9mm handgun and attempted to force two hospital guards to bring him to his son’s upstairs recovery room.

Hospital staff immediately a called a “Code Silver” over the building’s address system to alert workers to the presence of an armed intruder. The protocol for that code calls for essentially locking down the entire hospital, disabling all elevators and electronic locks, said Enloe spokeswoman Ann Prater, who added that nothing like this had ever happened at Enloe before.

“This is a high-stress area,” she said. “We have had incidents where we have combative family members, combative patients, but to my knowledge we’ve never had anyone brandish a weapon.”

Chico police were called at 9:45 p.m. and once on the scene located Berry and his hostages in a first-floor hallway near the building’s elevators. They established inner and outer perimeters and began to attempt to convince Berry to release his hostages. While the S.W.A.T. team took up positions, Officer Jose Lara engaged Berry in a conversation, which ultimately led to Berry’s surrender.

Police were also helped by hospital switchboard operators, who, from their position in a locked room near where Berry had taken the guards, were watching the incident unfold. The two workers in the switchboard office relayed their observations via the Internet to 911 dispatchers while continuing to route calls and keep workers in other parts of the hospital informed.

Police spokesman Lt. Mike Weber said the officers who responded made all the right moves.

“It worked out very well for us,” he said. “Our field officers made some really great decisions. Had the guy been able to get mobile in there, it really could have gone the other way. The logistics around something like this are just enormous.”

Berry, whose record shows convictions on drug and felony assault charges—including one for domestic violence—was already wanted on a warrant issued out of Butte County Superior Court last year. He was initially charged with two counts each of assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping, plus three counts of brandishing a firearm.

Prater said Berry’s son was stable and in fair condition. She praised the actions of hospital staff and police in dealing with the incident.

“[Security guards] Ben [Garrett] and Joe [Watts] did a great job last night. They were extremely courageous, and they were successful in protecting the safety of our patients and staff.”

Prater said trauma counselors will be made available to hospital employees and that administrators will conduct a review to make sure security at the facility is adequate. Emergency room patients were diverted to Enloe’s prompt-care clinic on Cohasset Road while the seige was underway.