Johns Hopkins Shooting: Gunman Paul Pardus Fatally Shoots Self, Mother and Wounds Doctor

BALTIMORE (CBS/AP) Hearing that his elderly mother would likely never walk again may have been the last straw for Paul Warren Pardus, who, say authorities, opened fire Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital killing himself and his mother and wounding a doctor.

"I guess he just couldn't bear to see her the way she was," said Pardus' brother 59-year-old Alvin Gibson.

Pardus' 84-year-old mother, Jean Davis, was struggling to cope with her crippling arthritis and rheumatism. She entered the world-renowned cancer hospital last week to undergo surgery, but it didn't go well.

It is not entirely clear what made Pardus pull the concealed weapon from his waistband, but the gunman's brother Alvin Gibson believed his brother snapped because he was overwhelmed by the news and the sadness he felt for his mother.

"I guess because he thought my mom was suffering because the surgery wasn't successful and she probably wouldn't be able to walk again," Gibson said. "She was a dear, sweet lady. She just wanted to walk around like she did when she was younger."

After the two-hour standoff, police made their way into the room and found Pardus dead on the floor and his mother shot to death in her hospital bed.

Orthopedic surgeon David Cohen had been shot in the abdomen, but is expected to recover.

Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said Pardus had been listening to Doctor Cohen when he "became emotionally distraught and reacted...and was overwhelmed by the news of his mother's condition."

Pardus had been on leave from his job as a MetroAccess driver since June in order to care for his ailing mother. He had been a fixture at her bedside tending to her every need.

According to his next-door neighbor Teresa Green, Pardus appeared to be the mother's sole caretaker.

"He loved his mother. That really showed," Green said.

Hospital officials are going to look into the use of metal detectors and security procedures, but claim it is not realistic to place metal detectors and guards at the hospital's 80 entrances.

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