A nurse was stabbed in a parking lot near University Hospital in Newark, N.J., while leaving work Sunday night.
The victim, who is in her sixties, was returning to her vehicle around 7:30 p.m. when a man approached her demanding money. He then stabbed her in the abdomen before fleeing the scene, reports CBS.
The nurse was able to make her way to the emergency room where she was immediately rushed into surgery. She is in intensive care and is listed in critical but stable condition.
The lot where the attack occurred is outside Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, not directly outside the hospital, according to a spokesman for University Hospital.
Rutgers operates and manages all parking facilities on the campus.
University Hospital is a principal teaching hospital of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences and is New Jersey’s only Level 1 trauma center.
Authorities are examining footage from security cameras but have not released a description of the suspect.
Staffers have previously voiced concerns about safety and security at the hospital, particularly at night around the facility and in the parking lot, according to ABC 7.
On Tuesday night, union leaders, nurses and hospital employees gathered at the corner of 12th Avenue and Bergen Street to honor their injured co-worker and to call for increased security.
“Rutgers police should have someone stationed here when we get out. Administration leaves at 4, 5, but what about the rest of us?” says Cynthia Brown, a nurse at University Hospital.
The Nurses Union had scheduled a meeting with hospital administrators to discuss safety issues prior to the attack but pushed the meeting to Tuesday.
“It’s an open parking lot. That’s the concern. We would like to have more security involved, patrolling, etcetera,” says Cynthia McDougall, a member of the Nurses Union.
The victim has worked at the hospital for 25 years in the labor and delivery ward, according to her family.
