A vehicle dropping off a shooting victim struck three nurses, critically injuring one of them

PHILADELPHIA – A vehicle that fled a Philadelphia hospital early Saturday after dropping off a gunshot victim hit three nurses who were trying to treat the patient, critically injuring one of them, authorities said.

The silver Jeep Cherokee had just dropped the man off in the ambulance bay at Penn Presbyterian Hospital around 4:30 a.m. Saturday when it hit the three nurses as they were fleeing, police said.

A 36-year-old nurse was in critical condition with facial injuries and internal bleeding. A 37-year-old nurse with head injuries and a 51-year-old nurse with head and back injuries were in stable condition, police said.

The 28-year-old shooting victim arrived with multiple gunshot wounds and suffered a possible head injury in the hit-and-run, police said.

Penn Medicine told WCAU-TV the incident was “devastating” but staff “continued to work to save the gunshot victim and care for all of our other patients, even as their own colleagues suffered and received treatment.”

Officials said they would support the victims and their families and work with police, who are investigating both the hit-and-run accident and the earlier shooting.

Philadelphia City Council member Jamie Gauthier said in a statement that staff at the region’s only Level One trauma center “face horrific pain and suffering every day to care for us during the most traumatic moments of our lives.”

“It is inconceivable to me that someone would drive a car into our neighbors who are being charged with healing,” he said.