MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A homeless woman shot and killed herself in a bathroom at Methodist South Hospital after police were called to transport her to a shelter. After being discharged, she had remained in the hospital’s waiting room for 16 hours.
Hospital security officers became aware that the woman did not have a place to go and contacted police to help the woman find a shelter, The Commercial Appeal reports. When the police arrived, the woman said she needed to use the bathroom before leaving. A shot was heard from the bathroom, and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ruth Ann Hale, a spokeswoman for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, told the news source that the hospital does not have metal detectors, so staff was unaware that the woman had a gun.