Hospital Therapist Gets Attacker’s Gun, Wounds Him Twice

A physical therapist wrested a gun from a patient and shot him twice Friday when he reportedly tried to rape her at an Anaheim hospital.

Police arrested Steven Blemker, 30, of Anaheim on suspicion of attempted rape and sexual assault at Martin Luther Hospital Medical Center. Blemker was in stable condition after five hours in surgery Friday, and was to be taken to the UCI Medical Center jail ward in Orange, police said.

Blemker, who had been to the hospital for a series of physical therapy sessions, arrived for his final session Friday morning with two handguns, according to Anaheim Police Lt. Peter DePaola.

Hospital workers called police when they heard one shot around 8:20 a.m. Police cordoned off the area and arrested Blemker 20 minutes later when he staggered out a side door of the physical therapy wing, which has its own outside entrance. The therapist had shot him in the right thigh and right shoulder with his own .38-caliber revolver.

Arrived With Weapons

Hospital officials said Blemker had been undergoing therapy for a job-related injury. When he arrived Friday with a revolver and a .25-caliber automatic, he ordered his therapist, another male therapist and two female patients in the area to lock the doors and turn off the lights, DePaola said.

A therapist and one patient managed to sneak out. The patient who remained heard the man yelling at the female therapist, who was not identified.

“The patient in the other room heard some type of conversation, and it grew louder and louder,” DePaola said. “She knew something was wrong.”

That is when hospital workers heard a shot and called police. Blemker reportedly pointed the automatic down the hall and shot a hole in the wall. Police arrived, and all hospital employees were told to lock their doors.

Blemker apparently led the physical therapist into the other patient’s room, where he threatened the patient. But the therapist persuaded Blemker to let the patient go.

“The victim apparently said, ‘She has nothing to do with it, let her go,’ ” said DePaola, who praised the therapist’s heroic efforts. “She did a real good job of getting the suspect to release the patient. The patient said (Blemker) threatened to kill her.”

Attacked the Therapist

After the patient left the room, Blemker attacked the therapist, DePaola said. She managed to wrest the revolver from him and shot him once in the thigh. She then pushed him away with her foot and shot him in the shoulder.

Blemker tried to escape, but the therapist followed him with the gun in her hand, DePaola said. Blemker, who was carrying some of his clothes, left through a side door, where he was met by police.

DePaola said Blemker apparently “centered in on the one victim.”

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Hazardous Materials Team also was called to remove and examine a jar filled with a cloudy liquid that Blemker had carried with him.

“He showed it to (the victim) and said it was some type of device,” DePaola said.

Officials determined that it was not explosive and sent it to a laboratory to be analyzed, he said.

“Our employees are somewhat shocked that an incident like this would occur in their own environment, but they handled it very professionally, said George Mack, hospital president and chief executive officer. “It’s one of those things you are prepared to deal with but don’t know if you’ll ever be called upon.”