Two united Department of Defense military nurses providing COVID-19 pandemic relief to the staff at University Hospital are being credited for saving the life of a male gunshot victim who drove himself to the medical center after being shot ins Newark's West Ward.
The incident happened around 7:35 p.m. in a residential section of South 19th Street and 14th Avenue.
A ShotSpotter device activated after several rounds of gunfire erupted at that location.
Newark Police officers raced to the scene and closed off the block after finding multiple shell casings, but no victims were located after searching blocks around the Hebrew Cemetery.
While Major Crimes detectives investigated at the scene, officials at University Hospital alerted police that a male gunshot victim was found bleeding profusely in front of the medical center's parking garage.
The unidentified male victim sped away from the shooting scene and reached the hospital but reportedly crashed the vehicle into the building after possibly losing consciousness.
Sources told RLS Media that the rapid action of both Department of Defense nurses observed the partially conscious victim bleeding heavily lying on the ground.
One of the nurses applied pressure on the hemorrhaging gunshot wound while the second nurse sprinted inside the hospital to get help from doctors.
The victim's condition could not immediately be confirmed, but the Essex County Prosecutor's Office has not announced a homicide investigation at this time.
University Hospital announced that a large contingent of United States Army medical professionals arrived at University Hospital to support hospital clinicians in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
According to hospital officials, eighty-five DOD professionals, part of the United States Army's Urban Augmentation Medical Task Forces, will collaborate with clinical staff on-site to assist with and support staffing shortages during the hospital's COVID-19 coronavirus response.
The group of providers includes doctors, medics, nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, respiratory therapists, as well as administration and support specialists, hospital officials said in a press release.
Each task force consists of a staff of 85 with the capability of providing the same service as a 250- bed hospital. The task forces first deployed to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, in New Jersey, before moving on to hospitals across the region.
"They will join the hospital in various areas and levels of care, including critical care units, working alongside the hospital's existing dedicated and hard-working staff."
According to a press release, in January, The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Ohio Emergency Management Agency (Ohio EMA) announced that $15,375,666 in federal funding has been made available to University Hospitals Health Systems for costs related to the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic under the federal disaster declaration of March 31, 2020.
The funding reimbursed University Hospitals for costs to provide overtime labor, facility disinfection, personal protective equipment, COVID-19 testing and therapeutics, medical equipment, supplies and security, according to the press release.
Newark Police have not announced an arrest or motive for the South 19th Street shooting.