Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 8, 1994                   TAG: 9411080122
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ARMED VET IN WHEELCHAIR DEMANDS TO ENTER HOSPITAL

A hospital staff member wrestled the gun away from him. No one was hurt.

The veteran, a 69-year-old man whose name was not disclosed, voluntarily left the hospital's rehabilitation treatment center a month ago against medical advice, Director John Presley said. The man phoned Monday asking to be readmitted and was told no bed space was available.

The man, an amputee who uses a wheelchair, came into the hospital about 11:30 a.m.

Presley said a nurse saw the gun when the man reached for it. The nurse ran behind the wheelchair, held the gun up against the man's chest and motioned for a medical clerk standing nearby to help her. The clerk wrestled the gun from the man, Presley said.

"His intent was 'You admit me or else,'" Presley said. "The employees did the proper thing. I feel like the incident was well-handled."

Presley said VA police took the man to the U.S. magistrate's office in federal court in Roanoke. The man is being held in Roanoke City Jail, charged with a federal felony, Presley said.

Last year, a former medical center patient pulled his car into the hospital parking lot and fired a Chinese assault rifle into the air.