Man who shot doctor in VA hospital gets 16 years in prison

A man who fired a handgun six times inside a veterans hospital in Riviera Beach in February 2019 was sentenced Friday to 198 months in federal prison.

Larry Ray Bon, 59, a U.S. Army veteran and double amputee, was at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at 7305 North Military Trail with a gun and ammunition, screaming about cigarettes, according to the FBI. Three shots were fired.

To distract Bon, Dr. Bruce Goldfeder, an emergency room doctor who was on shift, told him there were cigarettes behind him and he rushed to take the gun away.

As the doctor and Bon struggled over the weapon, Bon fired about three more shots.

One bullet grazed the doctor’s left ear, entered his neck and exited near the base of his skull, a federal affidavit said. Despite his injury, Goldfeder managed to wrestle the gun free and hand it to another physician, a woman. She was backed against a wall as Bon, who had apparently fallen off his scooter, crawled toward her. The physician held the gun up out of his reach and shielded herself with a chair.

She threw the gun back to the wounded doctor and when it fell to the floor, he gave it to a nurse.

Bon tried to attack the physician and a patient came to her aid. They used a chair to pin Bon against a wall until police arrived and took him into custody, according to the affidavit.

Investigators later found a second hospital employee was wounded by the gunfire, struck in the buttocks. Both employees survived.

Court records show Bon had arrived at the veterans hospital on Feb. 27 to see his primary care doctor. Then, he was admitted under Florida’s Baker Act. The law allows a person to be briefly, involuntarily hospitalized if he is considered mentally unstable or a danger to himself or others.

“When he became frustrated with medical staff, Bon retrieved the firearm from his wheelchair and fired several shots,” according to a statement from prosecutors Friday after U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Marra sentenced Bon, now 62, to a 16½ year sentence.

On March 13, 2020, Bon pleaded guilty to multiple crimes including possession of a firearm in a federal facility with intent to commit a crime. Marra originally committed Bon to 25 years of mental health care, but it was “a provisional sentence.”

“Bon was determined to no longer need psychiatric hospitalization, and was sentenced today,” authorities said Friday.

“When this defendant fired shots inside the West Palm Beach VA medical center, he turned a place of healing and comfort into one of violence, fear, and confusion for the U.S. military veterans and medical personnel who were present that day. For this, he is being held accountable,” said Juan Antonio Gonzalez, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, in a prepared statement.