Crime & Safety

Wounded Cockeysville Doctor In Good Condition, Police Search Shooter's Home for Evidence

The Baltimore Police Department spent the day reviewing emergency response protocol

UPDATED–Dr. David B. Cohen, the surgeon who was shot Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore, has been upgraded to good condition, according to hospital spokesman Gary Stephenson.

The family issued a statement Monday regarding  the incident. 

"We are deeply appreciative of the outpouring of support and concern for us during this difficult time," the statement said.  "We are especially grateful to everyone at Johns Hopkins who worked to make David's recovery possible. 

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"Now it is important that  our time and energy be focused on David's recovery.  David is in good condition and continuing to recover more and more every day.  We are asking the media to please respect our privacy during this time of healing.  Thanks for your understanding."

Meanwhile, Baltimore police searched the Virginia home of the shooter while the city's police commissioner met with other city universities to review coordinated emergency response procedures. 

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Cohen is expected to make a full recovery, although it is unclear when he will be discharged from the hospital. Cohen's family and friends asked the media to respect her family's right to privacy.

"They are a very private family," Stephenson said.

The Cohen's Cockeysville neighbors have said that Cohen and his family keep mostly to themselves.

Paul Warren Pardus, 50, shot Cohen in the abdomen after becoming dissatisfied with the quality of care being given to his mother. After shooting Cohen, Pardus turned the gun on his mother, killing her and then himself.

The Baltimore Police Department obtained warrants today to search Pardus's home in the 2100 block of South Kenmore Street in Arlington for evidence of a pre-meditated attack. 

"It looks like he may have taken some time off recently to care for this mother who was ill. There's nothing right now that points to the fact that this was a pre-meditated attack against Johns Hopkins or the doctor," said Anthony Guglielmi, spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department. "He was just dissatisfied with the quality care that she received at the hospital and he unfairly took it out on the doctor."

When reports of gunfire in the hospital first emerged, Baltimore police immediately began working with Hopkins security staff, among others, to restore safety to the facility. Guglielmi said police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld was "very pleased" with the response, but the department wanted to take the opportunity to improve existing security measures.

"Hopkins, when we went in there, it was so turn-key that it was almost like their security force was an extension of the BPD," Guglielmi said. "We were all speaking the same language. They understood the command structure."

Bealefeld today met with the heads of all universities and most hospitals in the Baltimore area to review response protocol.

"We want to make sure that (system) exists at other places, God forbid we get a campus gunman or a Virginia Tech incident on our hands here in Baltimore," Guglielmi said. "The time that it would take for the police department to go in and set up an infrastructure and make sure that everyone is on the same page is valuable time that could mean the difference of living and dying." 


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