Patient tries to carjack nurse in parking lot after he’s discharged, Florida cops say

A patient discharged from a Florida hospital stepped into the parking lot and immediately tried to carjack a nurse, according to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.

It happened at HCA North Florida Hospital in Gainesville as the victim sat in her car on a lunch break, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

“He just comes up, and I normally lock my door, and he said ‘Let me in,’” the nurse told officers at the scene. “I said, ‘No, go away.’ He said, ‘I got a gun. Let me in.’”

The nurse continued to refuse. The man then tried to open the back door, at which point she said she “just laid on (her) horn.”

“Finally, he left,” she told deputies.

At no point did the man actually show her a gun, the woman told police.

A deputy later detained someone fitting the suspect’s description at a nearby gas station, and he was “positively identified by the victim,” officials said.

The 38-year-old man was arrested June 26 and charged with attempted carjacking, officials said.

Investigators discovered he “had just been discharged from HCA North Florida Hospital prior to the incident.”

Gainesville is about 112 miles northwest of Orlando.

This story was originally published July 4, 2023 at 12:51 PM with the headline "Patient tries to carjack nurse in parking lot after he’s discharged, Florida cops say."