"I just thought maybe that he didn't take his medicine and couldn't help what he was doing," said Mildred Friedrichs as she left the hospital with her son who is a patient there.
Maryland State Police first learned of the wayward vet when some of the victims dialed 911.
"One of the victims says he went to confront him and he pulled a gun from his waistband," said Maryland State Police Spokesman Greg Shipley.
When a trooper arrived on the scene, he saw a man later identified as Clyde Patterson III walking in the eastbound lanes of Route 40 with a hand in one pocket and an American flag in the other. At that point, he claims Patterson reached down, picked up a rock and threw it at him.
As Trooper First Class James Parker got out of his car, Patterson narrowly missed him with another rock shattering his windshield.
In the meantime, troopers called in a police officer from nearly North East who was equipped with a Taser.
"He refused to cooperate,” said North East Police Chief Darrell Hamilton, “Then he lunged at the police officers with the possibility of knowing he might be carrying a weapon. My officer at that time shot his Taser and I believe the state police fired their weapons."
State police called in one of their helicopters to airlift Patterson to the Shock Trauma Center with a gunshot wound, but back at the VA hospital, which he called home, some question why such a resident would be allowed to leave the facility in the first place.
"They said unless he's a threat to you or himself, they can't do anything,” said Friedrichs, “Their hands are tied. It's the law I guess."
"They just let them come and go?"
"Yes."
Troopers say Patterson repeatedly told them that he was going to meet “J.C.”---an apparent reference to Jesus Christ as he refused to surrender.
No weapon was found at the scene.
Patterson is listed in fair condition.
