The man accused of fatally shooting two medical workers at Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Texas on Saturday was on parole after being released from prison years early despite his long criminal history.
The arrest warrant affidavit for Nestor Oswaldo Hernandez, 30, states that during his girlfriend’s labor, he became erratic and accused her of cheating on him. He then hit her with a handgun before opening fire on the first two medical workers who walked into the room.
A Methodist Health System (MHS) police officer who responded to the scene shot and wounded Hernandez. It was then that Hernandez was transported to another hospital for treatment. The Dallas Police Department and MHSPD later announced they arrested Hernandez for capital murder.
At the time of the shooting, Hernandez was out on parole for a 2015 aggravated robbery in which he taped a woman’s hands and eyes, leaving her with a broken nose and fractured eye, before stealing her cell phone, vehicle, and at least $3,000 in cash. Hernandez pleaded guilty to the incident in 2015 and was sentenced to eight years in prison but was allowed back into society with parole parameters in October 2021.
A prison spokesman told The Dallas Morning News that Hernandez, equipped with an ankle monitor, was allowed in the hospital on Saturday “to be with his significant other during delivery.”
“This is a tragedy, and an abhorrent failure of our criminal justice system,” Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia tweeted on Saturday.
A few hours later, Garcia expressed frustration with the “broken system” that allowed a career criminal such as Hernandez back on the streets.
“Our hearts @DallasPD go out to the those affected by this tragedy, I’m outraged along with our community, at the lack of accountability, and the travesty of the fact that under this broken system, we give violent criminals more chances, than our victims. The pendulum has swung too far,” Garcia tweeted.
Over the last 11 years, Hernandez has been convicted of various crimes such as robbery, possession, theft, burglary, and “delinquent conduct constituting the felony offense of assault of a public servant.” As FOX 4 noted, those are Hernandez’s recorded crimes in “Dallas County alone.” Despite his violent history, Hernandez successfully obtained plea bargains that reduced his sentences and helped him avoid maximum punishment.
“Court records appear to show that after Hernandez agreed to a plea bargain, ‘enhancements’ related to his prior criminal history that could have led to a stiffer sentence may not have been applied,” KERA reported.
Blue checkmarks on Twitter tried to blame the tragedy on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the Lone Star State’s permitless carry law, which went into effect in September 2021. Hernandez, a felon, however, is barred under the new law from carrying a firearm. Additionally, Hernandez as well as other Texans are not allowed to be armed inside spaces such as hospitals that have written, posted notices prohibiting guns.
