Woman Killed, Another Shot at UCLA Hospital

A stealthy gunman with an intimate knowledge of where to locate his victims in UCLA’s sprawling Center for Health Services shot a UCLA Medical Center worker to death and gravely wounded her co-worker early Monday in Westwood, police said. It was the first homicide on university grounds in more than 20 years, officials said.

The women victims were shot about 5:40 a.m. in the hospital’s patient-escort dispatch office, located on Level A, some distance from the medical center’s patient-care areas, according to Los Angeles Police Lt. Ron Hall.

Hall told reporters that a gunman opened the office door, thrust his arm and hand inside the room and opened fire with a “big caliber” handgun, hitting Diondra Ann Picou, 22, of Gardena and Nora S. Arellano, 30, of Los Angeles.

Picou, who had worked as a patient escort for six months, was struck in the chest as she sat at a table a few feet from the door of 15-by-30-foot office, Hall said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Arellano, a patient escort dispatcher who had worked at the center for 10 years, was shot “several times” in the leg and torso as she reclined on three chairs that had been pushed together, Hall said. She underwent surgery at UCLA Medical Center and was reported in stable but “serious condition” Monday night.

After she was wounded, Arellano managed to telephone a co-worker, who summoned campus police, Hall said. When the shots were fired, he said, a woman in a nearby restroom started screaming because of the noise, but she did not see the gunman flee.

The shootings shocked the 34,000-student campus. School authorities immediately beefed up security around the medical center and UCLA’s student escort service reported a sharp increase in requests, particularly from women, asking for somebody to walk them home from campus.

“A lot of people are talking about this,” said a visibly upset Dr. Brad Allen, a physician, as he left the medical center Monday night.

The head of the health center’s emergency room said the incident was especially difficult for his personnel.

“It’s an emotionally trying business, especially when the victims are known to you,” said Dr. Marshall Morgan.

He said some medical center personnel would receive counseling to deal with the events that occurred early Monday morning.

Police said they were uncertain of the motive for the shooting or how the gunman escaped afterward. Hall declined to comment on a possible suspect, other than to tell reporters at a press conference that police had information that would lead them “on a particular tack.”

UCLA campus police were able to question Arellano before she was taken into surgery and she may have provided a lead.

According to Hall’s account, the gunman deliberately went to the patient-escort office, which, he said, required “knowledge of a victim and a room.” Also, it was clear that the gunman may have known that doors secured during the night are opened around 5 a.m.

“Access is limited after the hours of 8 p.m. to 5 or 6 a.m. in this area,” said medical center spokesman Rich Elbaum. “There is tight security in terms of who can enter the hospital. ID badges are checked and so forth.”

The shooting shocked and saddened hospital workers, and chaplains and other counselors were going around the medical center talking over the incident with employees, Elbaum said.

“It’s a very traumatic situation,” he said.

UCLA officials said there are about 80 patient escorts employed by the medical center. They escort patients from one part of the huge hospital to another and accompany them when they check out. Campus police said Monday’s slaying was the first homicide they could recall on campus since a fatal shooting more than 20 years ago.

In January, 1969, two Black Panther leaders, Alprentice (Bunchy) Carter and John Jerome Huggins, were shot to death at the end of a campus meeting about a proposed black studies program.

Two brothers, George and Larry Stiner, reportedly members of a militant black group called US, subsequently were convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Carter and Huggins.

More recently, Karen Toshima of Long Beach was fatally shot off-campus as she strolled with a friend in Westwood Village. A gang member was later sentenced to 27 years to life in prison for the death of the 27-year-old graphic artist.