NursingLink

Georgia Nurse Killer: Shot the Wrong Nurse

Police: Gunman mistook identity of nurse shot in Columbus
Man admits shooting 3 at hospital, authorities say

Columbus — Authorities said Monday it was a case of mistaken identity that led to the shooting death of a male nurse who the gunman believed had neglectfully cared for his late mother in 2004.

But friends, family and co-workers said they already knew Peter Wright could not have been the one Charles Johnston was looking for when he shot Wright and two other people at Doctors Hospital last week.

“Pete was an excellent nurse. He’s the type of person I would want to wait on me,” nurse technician Melvene Brown said after Wright’s funeral on Monday.

“I don’t know what this gentleman had (in his mind) because it wasn’t Pete — not Pete,” she said.

Police detectives testified at a hearing Monday that Johnston, 63, confessed to the killings and told authorities he took extra ammunition and three guns to the scene because he “didn’t know what to expect.”

Johnston was ordered held without bond at the hearing in the Columbus Recorders Court, where he appeared in a wheelchair. An officer shot Johnston in the shoulder after the Thursday shooting.

Johnston was represented at the hearing by Charles Lykins, a public defender for the Recorder’s Court. He had no comment on the case.

The hearing came just hours after funeral services were held for Wright, 44, a registered nurse who colleagues said had worked at the hospital for more than 10 years, and James Baker, 76, who was shot getting out of his car in the hospital’s parking lot.

Police say Johnston was holding a years-old grudge and targeted a male nurse who he said had provided negligent care to his mother before her death in 2004.

Detective Joby Duncan said he took Johnston’s statement after he signed a waiver of his rights, and the confession was videotaped.

“He just told me that that morning he woke up and was tired of thinking about what happened to his mother years ago,” Duncan said.

Johnston told police he went to the hospital twice on Thursday to look for “an individual he knew as Peterson to settle something with him,” Duncan said.

Johnston left when he didn’t find the person he was looking for during the first visit, then returned about an hour later, and that’s when the shooting occurred, Duncan said.

Wright, who was working on the hospital’s 5th floor, was shot after Johnston heard someone call him ‘Pete,’ police said.

Next to be shot was Leslie Harris, a 44-year-old administrative assistant who received a gunshot wound to the chest after he happened upon the shooter. Duncan said Johnston shot Baker in the head, wrongly believing he pulled into a parking space in front of him to “prevent him from escaping.”

Nurse Karen Pridgen was one of several witnesses who testified at the hearing before judge Mary Buckner. Visibly shaken, she recalled seeing both Wright and Harris being shot and hearing gunfire and some of what Johnston said to Wright.

“I heard him say ‘Mother (expletive) you killed my mama’,” Pridgen said.

Johnston did not testify at the hearing.

Wright’s killing and the other deaths were triggered by a tragic case of mistaken identity, Lt. Charles Kennedy said.

“Peter Wright never attended (Johnston’s) mother at the Doctors Hospital,” Kennedy said of Johnston. “I am assuming he just made a mistake because he overheard a guy being called Peter.

“He just mistakenly shot Peter Wright thinking it was Peterson,” he said.

Kennedy said police are not trying to find out the identity of the actual nurse who Johnston was looking for, saying the investigation is focused on the triple homicide.

“We know the man went up there and shot three people,” he said.

Wright’s family thanked Harris during the nurse’s funeral Monday, saying he tried to save Wright and keep others safe by finding out where the gunman was and alerting those nearby.

Harris’ service is scheduled for Tuesday.

Dr. Michael Firth, a dentist who worked with Wright’s wife and is a close friend of the family, officiated the service, telling of Wright’s love for people, practical jokes, and projects around the house.

“God really blessed Pete with many abilities, besides having great nursing and people skills, he was a very talented do-it-yourself person,” Firth said.

“He was the type of guy in those Home Depot and Lowe’s commercials — he’d go out there and want a screwdriver and what’d he come out with? An air compressor,” the dentist said, evoking one of several moments of laughter in the service.

A small wooden box with Wright’s remains was at the front of the chapel beneath his Marine enlistment picture and the display was flanked by more than a dozen floral arrangements. In the lobby were several pictures; a handsome Wright flexing his biceps for the camera, grinning with a group in front of a Christmas tree, and he and his daughter flashing matching megawatt smiles.

The former Marine became a nurse because he “still had that passion, still had that love to help people” after his time in the Marine Corps, Firth said, adding that Wright’s giving heart was evidenced by his volunteer work at a makeshift hospital in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

He was also in the early stages of planning to go overseas to do charity nursing, Firth said.

More than 400 people went to the Vance-Brooks Funeral Home for the funeral, which Firth said was a time to “celebrate Pete’s life in the midst of his tragic death.”

“Let’s dwell on the positive memories of what God gave us in Pete and let’s be thankful for the time that we did have with him,” he said. “The last thing he would want would be for us to dwell on anger or bitterness, which is what led to the tragedy that ended his life.”

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