June 6, 2022
Man threatens a shooting at Hillcrest, just days after active shooter at Saint Francis.
Officers responded to Hillcrest Medical Center near 11th and Utica for a Disturbance with a Weapon Call.
Hospital Security was alerted to a man making threats and saying he was going to do what happened earlier in the week at Saint Francis.
According to witnesses, Matthew Staerkel was in a room visiting a patient when he started talking loudly about needing back surgery.
Witnesses quoted Staerkel as saying, “I better get pain meds after back surgery!
If I don’t get pain meds, I will do what that other guy did the other day! I would shoot up someone too if I didn’t get pain meds.”
Staerkel later admitted to Officers that he was referring to the shooting at the Natalie Building on the Saint Francis campus last Wednesday where a man killed two doctors, a receptionist, a patient, and then himself.
Matthew Staerkel was arrested for a Terrorism Hoax. His bond is set at $100,000.
This is an arrest, not a conviction.
