Manhunt under way for trauma surgeon in fatal shooting
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Police say they've issued a nationwide alert to law enforcement agencies for a Buffalo, N.Y., trauma surgeon sought in connection with the hospital shooting death of his ex-girlfriend.
Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda said Thursday that authorities don't believe 49-year-old Timothy Jorden crossed the border into neighboring Ontario.
He says all vehicles registered to the former U.S. Army weapons specialist have been accounted for as police continue to search for him.
"He's out there somewhere," Derenda said at a late-morning news conference. Police say Jorden may be armed and should be considered dangerous.
The search began Wednesday morning when 33-year-old Jacqueline Wisniewski was found shot to death in a stairwell at the Erie County Medical Center, where she and Jorden both worked.
Earlier Thursday, police dogs searched the ravine near Jorden's luxury lakeshore home. A neighbor had reported he heard a gunshot the day before.
Tom Wrzosek told The Associated Press that he was home around 9:30 Wednesday morning when he heard a shot.
"I heard a shot, a single shot, and I dismissed it," he said. "You don't often hear it but you do hear it."
He told police Thursday morning after thinking more about the timing.
"My girlfriend mentioned if he committed suicide someone would have heard it," he said.
Jorden, who has been licensed to practice medicine in New York for a decade, has served as a role model for black youth in Buffalo, people who know him told the Buffalo News.
Betty Jean Grant, chairwoman of the Erie County Legislature, told the newspaper she watched Jorden grow up and never knew him to get into any trouble.
"It's tragic that a doctor who saved countless lives might be accused of taking someone else's life," she said. "It puts a dark cloud over the mission of a hospital that's dedicated to saving lives."
Police say Wisniewski was shot four times. Derenda said the shooting wasn't a random act, and media reports say Wisniewski was Jorden's ex-girlfriend.
After the shooting, police unsuccessfully searched inside for the gunman for more than four hours.
They blocked a road leading to the surgeon's home in an isolated area of private Lake View residences near the Lake Erie shore. SWAT team members in camouflage arrived in unmarked SUVs. A helicopter flew over the house before leaving. Police later said the house was empty.
Heather Shipley, a friend of Wisniewski, told WIVB-TV that Wisniewski feared Jorden. Wisniewski used to live with Jorden but left him because she believed he was having affairs with other women, Shipley said. When they broke up, he wouldn't let go, Shipley said.
She said Wisniewski told her the doctor had put a GPS tracking device in her car and once held her captive in her home for a day and a half, wielding a knife.
"She told me if anything happened to her, that it was him," Shipley told the station.
Calls to several family members of Wisniewski were either to outdated phone numbers or were not immediately returned.
Jorden's colleagues told the Buffalo News that he had been acting strangely in recent months, avoiding eye contact and basic communication. They also say he had lost a lot of weight - as much as 75 pounds, estimated Michael Carr, who works in the surgical recovery room.
"All I know is he was a good doctor, really polite," Carr told the newspaper. "He always had something good to say."
Jorden has a medical degree from the University at Buffalo and trained at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash. He received his certification from the American Board of Surgery in 2004.
The News reported that Jorden joined the National Guard in high school, went into the Army after graduation and served with the Army's Special Forces, first as a weapons expert, then as a medic. In those roles, he served in the Caribbean, Japan and Korea.
Jorden is certified in advanced-trauma life support and has received numerous awards recognizing his relationships with patients, his teaching skills and his involvement in the community, the newspaper said.
Calls to two listings in Washington state for Jorden's ex-wife, Frances, were not returned.
Officials said as many as 400 patients and about half of the hospital's 2,000 employees were on the grounds at the time of the shooting.
Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda said Thursday that authorities don't believe 49-year-old Timothy Jorden crossed the border into neighboring Ontario.
He says all vehicles registered to the former U.S. Army weapons specialist have been accounted for as police continue to search for him.
"He's out there somewhere," Derenda said at a late-morning news conference. Police say Jorden may be armed and should be considered dangerous.
The search began Wednesday morning when 33-year-old Jacqueline Wisniewski was found shot to death in a stairwell at the Erie County Medical Center, where she and Jorden both worked.
Earlier Thursday, police dogs searched the ravine near Jorden's luxury lakeshore home. A neighbor had reported he heard a gunshot the day before.
Tom Wrzosek told The Associated Press that he was home around 9:30 Wednesday morning when he heard a shot.
"I heard a shot, a single shot, and I dismissed it," he said. "You don't often hear it but you do hear it."
He told police Thursday morning after thinking more about the timing.
"My girlfriend mentioned if he committed suicide someone would have heard it," he said.
Jorden, who has been licensed to practice medicine in New York for a decade, has served as a role model for black youth in Buffalo, people who know him told the Buffalo News.
Betty Jean Grant, chairwoman of the Erie County Legislature, told the newspaper she watched Jorden grow up and never knew him to get into any trouble.
"It's tragic that a doctor who saved countless lives might be accused of taking someone else's life," she said. "It puts a dark cloud over the mission of a hospital that's dedicated to saving lives."
Police say Wisniewski was shot four times. Derenda said the shooting wasn't a random act, and media reports say Wisniewski was Jorden's ex-girlfriend.
After the shooting, police unsuccessfully searched inside for the gunman for more than four hours.
They blocked a road leading to the surgeon's home in an isolated area of private Lake View residences near the Lake Erie shore. SWAT team members in camouflage arrived in unmarked SUVs. A helicopter flew over the house before leaving. Police later said the house was empty.
Heather Shipley, a friend of Wisniewski, told WIVB-TV that Wisniewski feared Jorden. Wisniewski used to live with Jorden but left him because she believed he was having affairs with other women, Shipley said. When they broke up, he wouldn't let go, Shipley said.
She said Wisniewski told her the doctor had put a GPS tracking device in her car and once held her captive in her home for a day and a half, wielding a knife.
"She told me if anything happened to her, that it was him," Shipley told the station.
Calls to several family members of Wisniewski were either to outdated phone numbers or were not immediately returned.
Jorden's colleagues told the Buffalo News that he had been acting strangely in recent months, avoiding eye contact and basic communication. They also say he had lost a lot of weight - as much as 75 pounds, estimated Michael Carr, who works in the surgical recovery room.
"All I know is he was a good doctor, really polite," Carr told the newspaper. "He always had something good to say."
Jorden has a medical degree from the University at Buffalo and trained at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash. He received his certification from the American Board of Surgery in 2004.
The News reported that Jorden joined the National Guard in high school, went into the Army after graduation and served with the Army's Special Forces, first as a weapons expert, then as a medic. In those roles, he served in the Caribbean, Japan and Korea.
Jorden is certified in advanced-trauma life support and has received numerous awards recognizing his relationships with patients, his teaching skills and his involvement in the community, the newspaper said.
Calls to two listings in Washington state for Jorden's ex-wife, Frances, were not returned.
Officials said as many as 400 patients and about half of the hospital's 2,000 employees were on the grounds at the time of the shooting.
