BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – Officials have arrested a mental health patient accused of attacking a Baton Rouge nurse who died days later.
Jessie Guillory, 54, of Lake Charles, was arrested on one count of manslaughter Tuesday, April 23.
The nurse, Lynne Truxillo, was attacked at Baton Rouge General Mid City on April 4 and was able to finish her shift, according to reports. During the attack, the nurse tore a muscle in her leg and had other injuries, according to a family friend.
The warrant outlines more details of the attack. It states Guillory came into the nurses’ station and started some sort of altercation with one of the nurses. Guillory then reportedly became violent and charged at one of the nurses. The warrant says Guillory pinned the nurse into a corner and continued to swing his arms at her while also trying to grab her.
Truxillo then intervened and pulled Guillory away from the other nurse. Guillory then began to attack Truxillo, who tried to run away, the warrant says, but he reportedly grabbed her by the back of the neck and pushed her head down into a desk.
The warrant goes on to say several others nurses tried to get control of Guillory, and as Truxillo tried to pull away from Guillory, she injured her right leg and fell. The warrant states video evidence from the nurses’ station was obtained and supported the statements given by the nurses involved.
Truxillo sustained abrasions to the back of her neck and tore her ACL, requiring surgery for repair.
After the attack, she went to the emergency room, where she was treated and released. Truxillo returned to the hospital on April 11 to be seen in the emergency room and was admitted to the ICU complaining of trouble breathing. The warrant states Truxillo went into cardiac arrest multiple times and could not be revived. She died just after 1 a.m. on Thursday, April 11.
Preliminary autopsy results released Monday, April 15 show Truxillo died of a blood clot in her right leg and a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that had formed in or traveled to her lungs.
On Tuesday, April 16, East Baton Rouge Coroner Dr. William “Beau” Clark said the nurse’s death will be investigated as a homicide and that she did indeed die due to the injuries sustained when she was attacked by Guillory. The coroner’s report says she died from the pulmonary embolism caused by the injury to her leg.
The warrant provides more details about her death as well, saying the autopsy showed contusions to her head and blood clots in her right leg. Her official cause of death is a bilateral pulmonary thromboemboli (traveling blood clot) caused by a deep vein thrombosis in her right leg from the traumatic knee injury she sustained when attacked by Guillory.
Baton Rouge General Medical Center President Edgardo Tenreiro called the nurse “a kind, compassionate, and giving nurse whose helpful and thoughtful nature made her a favorite of both her colleagues and her patients.”
“Our deepest sympathies are with her loved ones, friends and colleagues as we work to better understand this tragic loss,” he said.
The hospital says its pastoral care team is being made available for grief counseling and support for employees.
For more information, please click here.
