PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The man charged with the October fatal shooting of a fellow nursing assistant at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and the shooting of two Philly police officers later that same day, has admitted to pulling the trigger.
Stacey Hayes, 55, pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to third-degree murder, attempted murder, assault on law enforcement and related charges in a negotiated plea deal, and he was sentenced Wednesday morning to spend most of the rest of his life in prison.
The defendant said he was “truly, truly, truly sorry” for his actions.
On Oct. 4, Hayes walked into the hospital’s ninth floor and fired six times at 43-year-old Anrae James, a fellow nursing assistant, as he ran from the shooter. James had been talking with his colleagues while using a computer before Hayes approached him.
James, a father of three, later died at the hospital.
Hayes then drove a U-Haul to West Fairmount Park, dressed in body armor. When responding officers confronted him, he fired several rounds at them, seriously wounding one of them in the arm and grazing another.
In their victim impact statements, James’ mother, and his brother Armond, spoke about how many lives he touched.
"I do believe we can start the process of closure," said Armond James.
"We will never get my brother back, but I feel for so many other families, and they don’t get closure. They don’t get to heal for their loved one."
Though investigators never figured out Hayes’ motive, James’ mother suggested Hayes was deeply jealous of James.
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The officer who was shot told the judge he still does not have full function in his arm and says his young son and wife have to often care for him.
The defendant told the judge he was “truly sorry for causing so much pain and heartache” and said he didn’t deserve any forgiveness.
"I think justice was served. He will never walk the streets again,” said Armond James.
“We’ve got to as a city, as a society, get tougher on hardened criminals because it’s getting out of hand where people don’t feel safe to go to the garden, to go to the market, to the gas station and the criminals are running wild. We have to get harder on, not the law-abiding citizen who protects his family, but on the hardened criminal who blatantly has a disregard for law and order, for the laws. We have to get tougher on them, lock them up, and throw away the key.”
He added that his family will continue his legacy by advocating for hospitals to increase their safety measures.
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“We are going to promote all hospitals, not just the Delaware Valley, but around the country to protect its workers, their health care heroes,” he said.
“That is going to be his legacy because this was 100% preventable. We definitely want to focus on this never happening ever again to any health care worker, any teacher, any school to protect the workers of each city, any community, especially the health care workers at any hospital across this amazing country.”
Hayes was sentenced to 35 to 70 years in prison as part of a negotiated plea deal, and will be 90 by the time he can be paroled.