Nurses, therapists, security fight madman who tore through hospital ward strangling NEWBORNS

A deranged 18-year-old Texas man was arrested on Monday after he tried to choke multiple babies to death at the Odessa Regional Medical Center (ORMC).

Suspect Marcus McCowan Jr. was reportedly at the hospital because his girlfriend was in labor when he just started acting completely nuts.

“According to one nurse, McCowan approached her at the nurse’s station and grabbed her arm and made an ‘unintelligible statement.’ He was asked to leave the area and nurses said he then began running back and forth in the hall. The nurses called McCowan’s actions ‘odd and unreasonable,'” local stations KMID/KPEJ reported.

“McCowan then reportedly approached a new mom who was holding her newborn in a baby carrier while waiting to be discharged. The nurses said McCown began focusing his attention on the newborn, but briefly walked away when the new mother moved her child from his line of sight. A short time later, nurses said they heard stomping and then saw McCowan running toward them at full speed while yelling and screaming.”

(Source: Odessa Police Department)

That’s when the real action started and McCowan allegedly tried to charge past three nurses and break into the hospital’s nursery. The nurses thankfully managed to keep him out of the nursery, but his antics only grew worse.

After failing to enter the nursery, McCowan reportedly approached the aforementioned new mom, grabbed her baby carrier with the baby still inside, and shuffled off into the so-called Lactation Room with the carrier in hand.

A nurse followed him into the room and observed him with “his hands around the baby’s neck,” according to KMID/KPEJ.

“Nurses said the infant’s face changed color from lack of oxygen before they were able to wrestle the baby away and remove him from the Lactation Room,” the station reported.

McCowan then returned to the nursery and this time made it inside. A therapist who ran into the nursery reportedly saw him place his hands around a newborn female baby and start strangling her, to the point that she too reportedly turned blue.

He then allegedly picked up the baby, began violently shaking her, and then made it as if he were going to throw her on the ground. He did all this while reportedly shouting, “Die!”

Thankfully, the therapist finally caught up to him right at that moment “and tried to slowly pull him to the ground in order to keep the child from falling,” according to KMID/KPEJ.

“The therapist stayed with McCowan and the newborn, protecting her head in the process, until help arrived,” the station reported.

Once the police arrived, a brief scuffle broke out as McCowan predictably tried to resist arrest.

“Investigators said as McCowan was being escorted away, he tried twice to take an officer’s gun from his holster but was unsuccessful,” KMID/KPEJ reported.

McCowan was arrested thereafter and charged with two counts of Attempted Capital Murder, in addition to Assault, Assault of a Public Servant, Resisting Arrest, Attempting to Take a Weapon From an Officer, Criminal Trespass, and Possession of a Controlled Substance.

Moreover, his bail was set at $228,000, meaning he likely won’t be getting out anytime soon.

A litany of questions remain unanswered. What the hell was going through his mind? Why did he snap? What happened to his pregnant girlfriend? Did his behavior have something to do with him presumably about to be a father?

And, most importantly, why BABIES, of all targets?

(*Language warning)

ORMC president Stacey Brown, for her part, is just glad that thanks to her incredible staff, McCowan was unsuccessful in his sick, sick, sick mission.

“I want to express my sincere gratitude to those who responded to the incident last evening, especially our nurses, therapists and security team who worked diligently to protect innocent babies and others,” she said in a statement.

“The staff and physicians, along with the response team from the Odessa Police Department, are incredible heroes and we are all so grateful to each of them. Our attention is now focused on caring for and supporting those who were impacted by this including our patients, their families, and our staff.”

Records maintained by the Ector County Sheriff’s Office show that McCowan’s full name is Marcus Dwayne McCowan and that he’s been arrested a total of three times in the past two years.

He was arrested in May of 2022 for the theft of a firearm, and he was arrested in October 2021 for a parole violation.

It’s not clear why he’d been on parole, though his behavior at Odessa Regional Medical Center certainly suggests that he has some behavioral issues. Some very serious ones, at that.

Vivek Saxena

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