Police: NH Hospital Gunman 'Did Not Say A Word' After Killing Mother
LEBANON, N.H. (CBS) -- Court documents reveal that the man police say shot his mother to death Tuesday inside the ICU of New Hampshire's largest hospital did not say a word after pulling the trigger while his stepfather witnessed the gruesome scene.
Travis Frink, 48, of Warwick, Rhode Island, is charged with first-degree murder.
Police said he killed his 70-year-old mother while she stayed in the ICU at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon.
Pamela Ferriere had been receiving treatment at the hospital after suffering an aneurysm. She was scheduled to be released on Friday.
Court documents released Wednesday show that Frink signed into the hospital at 1:15 p.m. and went up to the fourth floor where his mother was staying.
Ferriere's husband - Frink's stepfather - was in the room with her when Frink arrived. Police said Frink asked if he could have some alone time with his mother, and she said it was OK.
Frink's stepfather, Robert Ferriere, began leaving the room when he heard Ferriere shout something. He turned and looked back into the room, and according to court documents saw Frink pointing a gun and firing several shots.
"You going to ask me why? I can't answer that question," Robert Ferriere told WBZ-TV.
"I was there, I was an eyewitness, I saw him pull the triggers that killed my wife."
A 23-year-old nurse who was in the room ran from the area and hid behind medical equipment while she called 911. The nurse said she heard two shots.
"Frink did not say a word. Frink put the gun in a bag he had been holding and walked" past his stepfather without saying anything, a police report reads.
He was arrested a short time later while attempting to leave the hospital.
Police say Frink admitted that he drove to Dartmouth-Hitchcock from Rhode Island in order to kill his mother.
The shooting prompted what the hospital calls a "code silver" alert, which saw some staff being evacuated and others sheltering in place.
No one else what injured in the ordeal, though many patients and workers alike were terrified as word spread. One staffer told WBZ-TV they thought the shooting and lockdown were a drill.
The hospital was eventually cleared and declared safe around 5:45 p.m.
Ed Merrens, the chief clinical officer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, said at a Wednesday press conference that the hospital was prepared for the shooting thanks to previous training sessions.
"We've trained for this. People were ready, ready for something you should never be ready for," said Merrens. "We are incredibly proud of the care that was provided, the commitment to patients and the resilience of our organization."
An autopsy showed that Ferriere was shot four times - in the chest, abdomen and pelvis.
Frink appeared briefly Wednesday in Grafton County Superior Court in North Haverhill, New Hampshire.
He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail with orders to have no contact with his stepfather.
WBZ NewsRadio Bernice Corpuz reports