County-USC Gunman to Get Psychiatric Evaluation

A skid row hotel resident convicted in 1994 of going on a shooting rampage in a crowded emergency room must undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is competent for a new trial, a judge ruled Monday.

Damascio Ybarra Torres, 46, was sentenced June 1, 1994 to two consecutive life terms plus 12 years for shooting and wounding Drs. Richard May, Glen Rogers and Paul Kaszubowski on Feb. 8, 1993.

On that day, Torres walked into a crowded County-USC emergency room waiting area and opened fire. Kaszubowski and May later testified they are no longer able to practice medicine as a result of the injuries they sustained.

Torres was also convicted of holding hostage two hospital workers, whom he later released unharmed after a five-hour showdown with police.

In testimony during his 1994 trial, Torres confessed to the attack and explained that he went to the hospital with two handguns, a rifle and a knife because he thought doctors there had injected him with the HIV virus and he wanted revenge.

Torres is seeking to represent himself in a new trial.

During his 1994 trial, Torres withdrew his plea of innocent by reason of insanity against the advice of his attorney. He also tried to represent himself in that trial, but Superior Court Judge John Reid denied his repeated requests.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Torres’ conviction, ruling that Reid should have held a competency hearing after Torres withdrew his insanity plea.

Judge Lance Ito took over the case when it came back to Superior Court in June.