I got hospital shooter to trust me, says heroine nurse

“YOU are brave, you are the only one that has come in here.”

So said a gun-toting man to New Somerset Hospital nurse Sr Diane Seale, who managed to disarm him after he shot and killed two patients and wounded police constable Donay Phillips, who later also succumbed to his wounds.

With International Nurses Day celebrated yesterday, Seale recalled the moments she managed to calm the gunman down.

It was on Saturday evening, May 7, when she was busy with her routine handover process when a call was received by a colleague in distress.

“I could hear her screaming and my colleague who had answered the phone informed me that there was an altercation on the second floor.”

Not knowing the extent of the traumatic event she was about to face, Seale told her colleague that she should carry on with her work while she attended to it.

“As I entered the second floor, I noticed a body on the floor in the corridor, but my eye caught the patient with the gun in his hand.

“I proceeded to walk straight to him, made eye contact.

“I walked towards him, and I hugged him.

“I escorted him into the cubicle. “He told me to close the door “I felt I could calm him down a bit.”

Seale shared how her focus and energy remained solely on the person.

“He looked at me while my hands were still on his shoulders and said, ‘You are brave, you are the only one that has come in here.’

“At this point, all I wanted to do was to keep him focused and calm.”

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said: “The story of Sr Seale is one of leadership, bravery, compassion, teamwork and true humanity. Her unwavering focus and attention on the suspected shooter ensured that countless lives were spared.”