Dallas Methodist shooting trial: Witnesses, accused shooter's ex-girlfriend, responding officer take stand

DALLAS - The trial of the man accused of shooting and killing two healthcare workers at Methodist Dallas Medical Center got underway on Tuesday morning.

31-year-old Nestor Hernandez is charged with capital murder in the shooting of social worker Jacqueline Pokuaa and nurse Katie Annette Flowers in Oct. 2022. He is also charged with aggravated assault of a peace officer.

Hernandez pleaded not guilty to the charges as the trial began.

Attorneys for both sides began with opening statements.

Prosecutors claimed Hernandez was in a rage because he believed she cheated on him.

"You see he was angry. He was angry with his child's mother Selena Villatoro because he suspected that he was cheating on him," said George Lewis of the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. "So on Oct. 22, 2022 he took a beer, he took a gun and a mindset of murder to a maternity ward at Methodist Central hospital."

Hernandez, a convicted felon, was out on parole at the time and was granted the ability see his girlfriend who had just given birth at the hospital.

"I submit to you when all of the evidence is presented in this case that the proper verdict will be guilty to a lesser offense. The lesser offense being murder not capital murder and I believe the reasons why will become self-evident during the course of this trial," said defense attorney Paul Johnson.

Hernandez is accused of fatally shooting the 45-year-old Pokuaa and 63-year-old nurse Katie Annette Flowers inside the mother-baby unit last year.

Hernandez's ex-girlfriend, Selena Villatoro, was called to the stand. 

Villatoro described Hernandez walking into the room with a beer and began accusing her of cheating on him.

She said he searched the room and pulled out a pistol.

"He stood up, called me an b**** and hit me like two more times," Villatoro remembered.

Photos of her injuries were shown to the jury.

Villatoro testified Hernandez told her they were going to die that day and whoever walked into the room would die with them.

"He was just telling me stuff like we're going to die today," she said. "He was saying that we were going to make the news."

That's when an unsuspecting Pokuaa, who was captured on a police officer's body camera video walked into the room to talk to Villatoro.

"That's when Nestor walked up behind her and shot her," she said. 

Stacey Smith, a longtime Methodist employee, described the chaos surrounding the shooting on Oct. 22, 2022.

Smith said she heard what she thought was a wet floor sign fall over, but later realized was a gunshot.

She described seeing Nestor Hernandez pointing his gun in the hallway and shooting at Annette Flowers.

She then described hiding in the bathroom and hearing what she considered to be two people fighting over a baby.

Methodist Hospital police sergeant Robert Rangel happened to be in the hallway on an unrelated call.

He testified he thought the first gunshot was a bulb that exploded.

Rangel says he heard more shots and then saw nurse Flowers, who told him she was shot before she passed away.

"I saw some blood around her neck and she was holding her neck," Sgt. Rangel said.

In body camera video you see her run down the hall for help.

Rangel radios for backup.

The police sergeant said he fired one shot at Hernandez when he saw him try to walk out of the room carrying a black pistol.

"I fired at that time because I feared for my life. I feared that if he came out of that room he was going to try to shoot more people," Sgt. Rangel said.

Hernandez was struck in the leg.

Over the next 15 minutes or so, Rangel tried to calm Hernandez down and get him to surrender.

Durring that time, Villatoro testified Hernandez pointed the gun at her and tried to grab the baby.

He also called his parents.

Villatoro says Hernandez fell over at one point and that's when she acted.

"I jumped up, went to go grab it and throw it outside," she said.

While Hernandez was being treated for his injuries Rangel said he told him this.

"He said that she cheated," Sgt. Rangel recalled.

It wasn't until police got into the room that they realized there was another victim, Jacqueline Pokuaa.

Prosecutors called several first responders to the stand Tuesday to highlight different angles of their bodycam footage.

Relatives of both victims were in court today.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• 2 hospital employees killed in shooting at Methodist Hospital in Dallas, suspect in custody
• Suspect charged with murdering 2 healthcare workers at Dallas hospital has a long criminal history 
• Dallas hospital shooting suspect accused girlfriend of cheating before killing 2 workers, affidavit says
• Friends, family of Dallas hospital shooting victim remember their 'angel on earth'
• Methodist Hospital shooter walked into young mother’s room before deadly rampage
• Officer's response to Dallas Methodist hospital shooting was 'superb,' police expert says
• Dallas Methodist Hospital shooting: What has changed one year later

If convicted of capital murder, Hernandez will automatically face life in prison.

Testimony will continue Wednesday at 9 a.m.