A Chattanooga man shot and killed his estranged wife and mother-in-law Friday night at Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe.
James L. Benson, 59, of 2206 E. 34th St., is facing two counts of murder.
The victims are Mary Sue Benson, 56, of 491 Warren St., Rossville, and Charlotte Edith Johnson, 77, of 4216 Seneca Ave., Chattanooga.
Authorities said family members had been visiting a relative at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit on the second floor of the hospital. Fort Oglethorpe Police Chief David Eubanks said conflict between the family had been going on for several weeks.
He said earlier in the week there had been an argument among the family at the hospital and Benson was asked to leave when he got a little loud. He said they had another confrontation on Friday and Benson told them "they’d be sorry." He went to his car, returned with a gun and first shot his mother-in-law and then his wife in a waiting room at the ICU.
Haley Johnson, hospital spokesperson, said, however, "Mr. Benson had visited the hospital several times over the last week with no issues. He was never asked by any of the hospital staff to leave the premises yesterday either due to inappropriate behavior.
"There was confrontation between the family, but the hospital staff did not ask him to leave and were not aware of the confrontation."
The wife died at the scene and the mother-in-law died in surgery at Erlanger Hospital after being flown by LifeForce helicopter.
Benson went directly to his car that was parked in front of the hospital. He drove straight to the Fort Oglethorpe Police Department and turned himself in to a detective. Chief Eubanks said Benson walked up to the detective with a soft drink in his hand.
Benson had no prior criminal record.
Police say the shooting was a domestic incident and involved only family members. No hospital staff were hurt.
The hospital was on lockdown for several hours.
Corky Jewell, hospital board chairman, said the incident "could have occurred anywhere" and he said it would have taken an extraordinary security setup to prevent it.
He said the hospital had 24/7 security. He said additional security personnel were brought in from Erlanger after the incident. Hospital security officers are unarmed.
Chief Eubanks said, "I don’t know that it would have been possible to have prevented this incident."
The Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Walker County Sheriff’s Office, TBI, the Georgia State Patrol, the Fort Oglethorpe Police and the coroner’s office all went to the scence.
The hospital sits partially in Walker and partially in Catoosa County. The crime scene appears to be on the Walker County side. Fort Oglethorpe is in Walker County, and the Fort Oglethorpe Police Department was made the lead agency in the case on Friday night.
Officials said it was the first shooting at the hospital in its more than a half-century history.
Benson, who worked as a security guard, made his first court appearance on Saturday afternoon. He did not speak during the brief hearing.
He is being held at the Walker County Jail in LaFayette.
Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said from 75-100 officers were at the hospital in the wake of the shooting.
He said he did not believe any law enforcement agency had been advised of the family conflict.
Benson fired all five shots from a Taurus 38 handgun. He apparently had the gun in a jacket pocket.
All of the bullets went into the chests of the two victims.
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