The Emory Wheel regularly meets with Emory Police Department (EPD) Records Manager Ed Shoemaker (87G, 90G) and Director of Campus Safety Communications Morieka Johnson (94C) and uses EPD’s public crime log to inform the Emory University community about recent crime on and around Emory’s campuses.
To report a crime, contact EPD at 404-727-6111 or police@emory.edu.
Terroristic threats at Emory University Hospital
Around 1 a.m. on Sept. 4, EPD responded to a call from the emergency room at Emory University Hospital reporting an altercation between a nurse and a patient, according to Shoemaker.
The nurse said that around 11 p.m. on Sept. 3, the patient was brought to a treatment room in the emergency room but refused to stay in his room.
Other people saw him walking down the hallway behind the nurse with his fingers shaped like a firearm pointing toward her head. He then made a firing motion at the nurse. The patient later claimed that he was trying to shake the pain out of his arm, according to Shoemaker.
The patient liaison on duty escorted the patient from the treatment area back into the waiting room. Shoemaker said the patient acted aggressively and insisted Emory fire the nurse who he had pointed his finger at.
Shortly after, the patient left the emergency room waiting area and came back about 10 minutes later. He asked to speak to the patient liaison and apologized for his behavior, saying that he wanted to stay and just get treated. The patient then got up and walked out of the emergency room again after another few minutes. He did not return or get any form of treatment afterward.
The nurse involved in the situation told EPD that she was interested in pressing charges.
The patient is not affiliated with Emory, and there was no indication that he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to Shoemaker. The case has been referred to investigators.
Criminal trespass at the Emory Student Center
Around 4:15 p.m. on Sept. 5, a female student reported that an unknown man had stopped her in front of her class, tried to sell her candles and followed her to the Emory Student Center.
The suspect, a 35-year-old man, acknowledged that he had no affiliation with Emory University. He told EPD he was on campus to apply to attend Emory as a student, according to Shoemaker.
EPD informed the man that University regulation prohibits people from soliciting on campus and gave the man a criminal trespass warning, restricting him from returning to Emory except to receive emergency medical treatment. EPD then escorted the man to the MARTA station in Decatur, Ga. After the suspect left campus, EPD received a second call from another student who had been stopped by the same man outside Dobbs Hall. He continually asked for her phone number and tried to show the student photos on his phone. There has been no indication that the suspect has returned to campus since these incidents, according to Shoemaker.
Dating violence, criminal damage to property
On Sept. 5, an Emory student reported an incident that had occurred in December 2023. The student claimed that after an altercation with her ex-boyfriend, he snatched her cell phone from her, threw it on the ground and damaged it.
Around the same time, the student’s Apple Watch went missing, and she thought he had taken it. The ex-boyfriend denied her claim that he stole the watch. The student said the last place she saw the watch was in his room in Clairmont Tower.
The student then told her ex-boyfriend in April that if he did not reimburse her, she would report the alleged theft to EPD.
The suspect could be charged with second-degree criminal damage to property, which applies when one intentionally damages somebody’s property and if the damage costs more than $500. The suspect could theoretically go to prison for more than a year or be fined over $1,000 as a penalty, according to Shoemaker.
EPD has assigned the case to an investigator who will follow up with the student about the case.
