When military medics
arrived at Guam
clinic, SWAT teams were in actionBy Donovan Brooks
Guam bureau chief
NAVAL
HOSPITAL, Guam — The four Navy emergency medical technicians who responded to a
shooting rampage on Guamsaid they were prepared for the worst, but didn’t expect to
wade into a company of SWAT team members looking for a gunman.
The sailors
received a call for assistance at the Seventh Day Adventist Clinic in Tamuning, where a
gunman opened fire Monday.
Police
officials said Peter Maguadog, 44, a former clinic employee, entered the clinic and opened
fire at about 11:40 a.m. He fatally shot his wife and a nurse and wounded four others. He
was shot by police and later died.
What petty
officers 3rd class Rufino Vegamora and Brian Baranowski didn’t know when they rushed
into the clinic was that police were still trying to apprehend Maguadog, Baranowski said.
Upon
entering the clinic, the Navy medics found Guam EMTs trying to revive a woman and another
man with a gunshot wound to the head, said Vegamora, of Quezon Province, Philippines.
Vegamora
and his partner attended to the man and transported him to the Guam Memorial Hospital,
where he is recovering.
"It’s
just part of the job. It’s what we’re expected to do," Vegamora said.
Petty
Officer 2nd Class Scott Hazelrigg and Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew Ford assisted a man
with a neck wound. The man is recovering.
"I’m
not accustomed to working around a lot of guys with guns," Ford, of Baltimore, Md.,
said, referring to the armed police on the scene. "But it didn’t stop us or
worry us. We just did what we had to do."
Baranowski,
of Milwaukee, Wis., said he asked police if it was safe to go into the clinic after he
arrived and was told yes.
"We
grabbed our stuff and rolled in," he said.
But the
building was still full of SWAT team members and the shooter, Baranowski said.
Baranowski
said he joined the Navy to become an emergency medical technician. The best part of his
job is watching someone walk out of the emergency room after being brought in by an
ambulance.
"You
do something and someone gets better," he said.
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