Witness speaks out about night of Novant hospital shooting

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — A witness who was at Novant Health in Huntersville the night of an officer-involved shooting reached out to Channel 9 to talk about her experience.

She didn't want to give her name out of fear of losing her job.

She said 76-year-old Joseph Cook had asked for help minutes before he fired a shot inside the hospital Sunday around 11:40 p.m.

''He was actually sitting in the doorway of his room in a wheelchair when he stated that he couldn’t breathe twice," she said.

The employee said she was talking to a nurse who ended up coming to his room within five minutes, but it was too late.

"Moments later, there was a shot that rang out. Cook was screaming saying that it was a warning shot he was going to give to the nurse," the employee said.

The employee said she dropped to the ground and hid inside a bathroom.

"It was like my life flashed before my eyes, you know just thinking about my family at home," she said.

She said the nurse ran out of Cook's room and screamed for help.

"Once security and police arrived, four shots were let out, and the man was killed," she said.

The employee said Cook had been admitted to the hospital prior to the shooting.

Huntersville police said medical privacy laws prevent them from confirming that the patient was admitted.

Police said Cook was a Hurricane Irma evacuee from Deland, Florida who had stopped in Charlotte.

The employee who feared for her life said she is grateful for police who stepped in.

However, she still questions whether Cook was really going to do any harm.

"He was 76-years-old and I don’t think he was a threat to them," she said.

Novant Health said it completely reopened the last unit of the hospital that was impacted by shooting Wednesday.

The company is working with the SBI and Huntersville police.

The SBI said agents are still actively investigating the shooting, and the actions the officers took that night.

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