Dallas hospital shooter carried out fatal attack after accusing girlfriend of cheating

A man who was charged for shooting and killing two Dallas hospital maternity ward nurses over the weekend is believed to have opened fire after accusing his girlfriend of cheating.

Jacqueline Pokuaa, 45, and Katie Annette Flowers, 63, were killed in the Saturday shooting at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, according to police and the Dallas County medical examiner’s office.

Authorities said Nestor Hernandez, 30, opened fire around 11am while at the hospital visiting his girlfriend — who had just given birth to their child. 

The tragedy unfolded after he accused the woman of cheating and told her ‘whoever comes in this room is going to die with us.’

According to police records, he pulled out a handgun and hit her on the head with it multiple times.

Hernandez was on parole from prison at the time and had been granted permission to be at the hospital while wearing an ankle monitor. He was shot and wounded by a police officer shortly after the rampage began, authorities said.

Nestor Hernandez, 30, opened fire on Saturday killing two nurses including Jacqueline Pokuaa, 45, (pictured) when she came into the room to attend to his girlfriend who was in labor

Hernandez then allegedly shot Katie ‘Annette’ Flowers (pictured) after she looked in the room upon hearing gunfire. Flowers is described by her family as a ‘a hero in her line of work’

‘In my opinion, this is a failure of our criminal justice system,’ Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said at a news conference Monday. ‘A violent individual such as this should not have been on ankle monitor and should have remained in custody.’

Hernandez has been charged with capital murder but it wasn’t clear Monday if he has an attorney who could speak on his behalf. 

He was not listed among people being held in the Dallas County jail and authorities said that after the shooting he was treated at Methodist and then taken to another medical faculty for further treatment.

Hernandez arrived at the hospital around 10:20am to visit the woman in delivery and began to strike her repeatedly with the handgun, Garcia said. 

According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by WFAA-TV, Hernandez was at the hospital for the birth of the child and began accusing her of infidelity.

Hernandez then started making ‘ominous’ calls and sending text messages to his family, told his girlfriend that they were both going to die and said ‘whoever comes in this room is going to die with us,’ according to the Dallas TV station’s account of the affidavit. 

Nestor Oswaldo Hernandez, 30, who opened fire at Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Texas on Saturday – killing two nurses – was on parole for aggravated at the time of the shooting

Hernandez has a lengthy criminal history and now faces capital murder charges for fatally shooting two nurses over the weekend was at the Dallas hospital

At the time of the shooting he was on parole for aggravated robbery and was wearing an active ankle monitor, police said

He shot Pokuaa when she came into the room to attend to the woman and then shot Flowers after she looked in the room upon hearing gunfire, Garcia said.

Hospital police Sgt. Robert Rangel saw Flowers get shot, called for backup and took cover outside the room where Hernandez was reloading his gun, the chief said.

Family, friends and fellow medical workers have been sharing the victims’ photos and names on social media, with memories of their slain ones, while demanding justice.

When Hernandez emerged, Rangel shot him in the leg and, after a standoff, police took him into custody, Garcia said.

The Ghana news outlet GhanaWeb reported that Pokuua was a native of the African country and the daughter of a retired army colonel living in Accra.

Loved ones of Flowers, who went by Annette, confirmed her death through a GoFundMe page that described the beloved nurse as ‘a hero in her line of work, single mother to 4, and Grammie to 5 wonderful grandbabies.’

Garcia said the woman Hernandez struck was treated for her injuries and that a newborn child who was in the room was not hurt.

Police identified the two women killed as a nurse and case worker but didn’t say who did which job.

Suspected shooter Hernandez was released from prison on parole last October after having been convicted of aggravated robbery, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Amanda Hernandez. She said he was given permission to be with his ‘significant other’ at the hospital during her delivery.

Authorities haven’t released any information on how Hernandez came to have a gun while on parole for a felony conviction.

The Ghana news outlet GhanaWeb reported that Pokuua was a native of the African country and the daughter of a retired army colonel living in Accra

Methodist Medical System Police Chief Glen Fowler said Monday that the hospital wasn’t given any notice of his criminal history or that he was being tracked with an ankle monitor

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Loved ones of Flowers confirmed her death through a GoFundMe page that described the beloved ‘hero’ nurse as a ‘single mother to 4, and Grammie to 5 wonderful grandbabies’

Methodist Medical System Police Chief Glen Fowler said Monday that the hospital wasn’t given any notice of his criminal history or that he was being tracked with an ankle monitor. 

‘That’s not something we normally inquire about for a parent,’ Fowler said. ‘This is an extremely horrific, out-of-the-norm situation. I wish that we would have known, but that is not some information that was provided to us beforehand.’

Garcia said Hernandez was sentenced to eight years for aggravated robbery, serving six before he was released on parole last year.

In March 2022, he was arrested for a parole violation, then in April released to his parole officer.

In June, Garcia said, Hernandez was arrested in a Dallas suburb for another parole violation, taken to a county jail and then turned over to the custody of Texas prisons, which released him this September with the ankle monitor he was wearing during the shooting.

Dallas County records show that Nestor Hernandez has been arrested repeatedly since 2011, including on charges of aggravated robbery, burglary and the unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

The Dallas Police Department is leading the investigation into the shooting, which is also being reviewed by the Texas prison system’s Office of Inspector General.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia speaks during a news conference at police HQ, Monday. The Dallas Police Department is leading the investigation into the shooting

Garcia chronicled the shooting that took place at Methodist Dallas Medical Center over the weekend where a gunman killed two hospital employees