Armed patient fires shots & steals ambulance in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham Fire and Rescue were at the Birmingham airport at 11:20 a.m. to transport a patient to a local hospital.
Officers shortly after received a call of shots fired from the rescue unit. Police said the patient, a black female, was armed with a handgun, and took the ambulance and left the airport with no fire personnel inside.
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It all began about 10:40 a.m. when rescue workers were dispatched to the airport on a report of a woman feeling dizzy, said Birmingham Fire and Rescue Chief Charles Gordon. The rescue workers picked up the female patient at baggage claim, put her on a stretcher and loaded her into Rescue 12.
At about Tallapoosa Street on Interstate 59/20, the woman pulled out a gun and fired three shots. There was a struggle inside the rescue unit, Gordon said, and one of the paramedics jumped from the moving vehicle. The driver was able to pull over the truck and get out. At that point, Gordon said, the patient got behind the wheel and drove off.
“After she fired three shots there was a tussle,” Birmingham Fire Chief Charles Gordon said. “None of our personnel was injured severely.”
The emergency responders managed to get out of the ambulance while the woman went for a what was described as a joy ride.
Police surrounded the ambulance at 4th Avenue West and 3rd Street west. The armed woman was arrested and taken into police custody. No officers were injured.
