After-action report on the Sherwood shooting at CHI St. Vincent reveals issues

Little Rock, Arkansas – In Sherwood’s CHI St. Vincent Hospital, a person was shot and killed over six months ago. Police have provided the after-action report.

Leighton Whitfield, 21, was visiting his fiancé in the hospital when the suspect Raymond Lovett entered the room and shot him, according to the police.

Positive aspects of how the issue was handled by police are noted in the Sherwood Police Department’s after-action report, including quick reaction times, a diligent search for the culprit, and good cooperation amongst the various agencies.

A few pages are devoted to the stated issues, which begin with radio communications.

According to the complaint, officers had to use their cell phones to communicate because the radios were broken.

It also shows that communication problems caused a delay in giving law police a description of the shooter.

Officials are now stating in the report that a better-established line of communication is required.

The report also states that employees in two additional nearby buildings were not informed of the active shooter.

It further asserts that door locks had been changed or new locks installed, and access to master keys, badges, and facility maps had been severely delayed when they wanted to investigate every room of the hospital.

Finally, the study notes that although the pharmacy had been evacuated when the active shooter alarm was issued, there were still patients within the hospital who needed medication and couldn’t access it.

A spokesperson from the hospital responded with the following quote:

“The health and safety of CHI St. Vincent’s patients, staff and health care providers are our ministry’s top priorities. Immediately following the incident at CHI St. Vincent North, we engaged in an extensive after-action review, both in coordination with the responding law enforcement agencies and independently, to identify any opportunities to improve our security protocols and/or educate staff on existing protocols in place. The improvements identified by local officials and our teams have already been implemented as well as additional steps to keep our community safe when they come to our healing ministry. CHI St. Vincent has also shared those learnings with the Arkansas Hospital Association so that our fellow healthcare providers can learn from this experience as well.
CHI St. Vincent is proud of our healthcare, facilities, and security personnel for their quick response during an incident that none of us would ever want to encounter. That includes our surgeons and medical staff who chose to continue patient surgeries during the evacuation and the dozens of volunteers from our other hospitals and healthcare facilities who rushed to CHI St. Vincent North in order to support our staff and maintain the continuity of care for our patients.”

The suspect has entered a not-guilty plea in court and is currently charged with capital murder. In July, he will be back in court.