NATION : Father Armed With Gun Pulls Son Off Life Support and Lets Him Die
A man pulled his son off a life-support system today while holding hospital staff members at bay with a gun and cradled the baby in his arms until the child died, authorities said.
Rudy Linares, 23, of Cicero was charged with murdering his 16-month-old son, Samuel.
Police said Linares and his wife, Tamara, entered the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, where their son had been sustained on a ventilator since last August, about 1 a.m.
About 20 minutes later, Linares pulled out a .357-caliber handgun, ordered the lone nurse out of the unit, unhooked the infant from the life-support system, and sat with his son in his arms, police said.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone,” Linares told half a dozen security guards who gathered outside the room. “I’ll only hurt you if you try to plug my baby back in.”
Police said the father never pointed the gun at anyone other than the child and turned the gun over to officers after the boy died.
Hospital officials said Samuel had been brought to Rush-Presbyterian by ambulance after he swallowed an object that blocked his windpipe. Oxygen deprivation left him partially brain-dead and comatose.
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