Friday, Aug. 29, 2008

Patient who shot herself identified

Updated 1:26 p.m.
A hospital patient who pulled a handgun from a Corrections officer’s holster and killed herself has been identified as Lorelei Gibbons.

Gibbons, 29, is from Elgin, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said. Officials have not conducted an autopsy because Gibbons’ family has consented to organ donation, Watts said.

Gibbons died Thursday afternoon at Palmetto Health Richland. Gibbons was a patient at the hospital, not an inmate. It’s unclear how she got the weapon away from the corrections officer.

Department of Corrections officials have not released the name of the corrections officer, citing an ongoing investigation.

The hospital’s evaluation of the incident isn’t expected to be completed until at least next week, hospital spokeswoman Tammie Epps said.

Officers with the state Department of Corrections were transporting an inmate at the time of the shooting, authorities have said. The agency’s executive staff has been investigating and examining the policies for transporting inmates to and from the hospital and inside the hospital, spokesman Josh Gelinas said.

Since the incident, all officers transporting inmates to the hospital have been using Level 2 holsters, which is a higher security holster than the Level 1 holster from which the gun was removed.

The hospital has decided to open a separate waiting room for inmates.

No disciplinary action has been taken against any Corrections employees, but it has not been ruled out, Gelinas said.

The two officers involved in the incident notified the warden they would not be at work Wednesday at Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution, a maximum-security women’s prison in Columbia.

Gelinas did not know why they weren’t at work and did not know whether they worked Thursday, he said.

He did not have a timetable on when the Corrections investigation would be completed.

In the incident Tuesday, two officers were accompanying Gibbons for medical treatment when she grabbed the revolver, authorities said. One of the officers was armed, wearing a low-security holster, according to authorities.

Columbia police are investigating the shooting, which occurred in a hallway, with assistance from the State Law Enforcement Division and the Corrections Department.

Reach Higgins at (803) 771-8570. Reporter Adam Beam contributed.