Family of Legacy Health security guard killed in shooting sues Portland hospital for $35M

PORTLAND, Ore. (KGW/KTVZ) — The family of a security guard who was killed at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center last year has filed a $35 million wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital and its parent company, Legacy Health, KGW reported. 

Bobby Smallwood, 44, was fatally shot by a suspect later identified by police as PoniaX Kane Calles on July 22, 2023.

Calles fled after the shooting, prompting an hours-long police search that included lockdowns at the hospital and a nearby Fred Meyer store where he had reportedly been spotted. Police eventually found him in a car in Gresham, prompting a standoff followed by a confrontation in which Calles was shot and killed.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleges that Legacy failed to fully implement its own security policies, such as by only placing metal detectors at one entrance to Good Samaritan to check for unauthorized firearms, and it alleges Legacy discouraged staff from reporting violent incidents even as such incidents were on the rise in 2022.

The complaint also faults Legacy for failing to respond to earlier incidents involving Calles specifically, and details an alleged sequence of events in which Calles repeatedly threatened hospital staff in the days leading up to the shooting but was allowed to stay, in violation of the hospital's policies.

Calles had been in a relationship with a woman who checked into the hospital to give birth to their third child about two day before the shooting. Calles had abused the woman and she had at one point filed for a restraining order, according to court documents, but never followed through to get it instituted.

The woman was admitted to the hospital's Women's Services Department on the night of July 19, 2023, and Calles stayed there overnight with her. He was "immediately hostile" to staff who tried to treat her that night, according to the lawsuit, and became "verbally aggressive, and interfered" with her care the following day.

The lawsuit alleges that Calles should have been expelled from the building after either of two incidents that day, one in which he became aggressive with a security guard, requiring two other guards to be called in to deescalate the situation, and another in which he attempted to break down the door to an operating room. Instead, he was told that he was receiving his final warning and would be removed after any further outbursts.

His aggressive behavior continued and worsened on July 21, according to the lawsuit, at one point demanding that his newborn son's ID bracelet be removed, and when staff refused, declaring "if you guys keep acting like this, someone is going to get killed around here," which prompted a nurse to trigger a panic alarm.

At that point, staff told the nursing supervisor that they did not feel safe and asked for Calles to be expelled, according to the lawsuit, but he was again given a "final warning" and was allowed to stay. He again threatened a nurse who attempted to provide care for the infant that night.

The supervisor didn't agree to remove Calles until following morning. Two hospital security guards arrived to remove him at around 9 a.m., and Smallwood was called in from his regular position at Legacy Emmanuel to assist.

Hospital staff and security entered the mother's room at about 10 a.m. with the intention of searching it, and told Calles he needed to leave the room while she received medical care. He agreed and left with Smallwood, who took him to the department's waiting room and stayed there with him.

Security guards found two firearms with ammunition in a duffel bag in the room at 10:24 a.m., the lawsuit alleges, which should have resulted in Calles being immediately expelled for violating Legacy's unauthorized weapons policy. But management "took no steps to investigate whether Calles was armed between 10:24 a.m. and 10:49 a.m."

At 10:50 a.m., one of the security guards asked the mother if there were any additional guns, and she replied that there was a third and Calles was likely carrying it, and a security guard then told other employees that there was a "a 99.99% chance" Calles was armed, according to the lawsuit, but Smallwood wasn't warned until 11:04 a.m. when another guard "attempted to communicate via hand gestures" through the glass doors.

Smallwood then told Calles that he would need to pat him down for weapons. Calles said he would leave instead, and Smallwood radioed staff that he was escorting Calles out at 11:05 a.m. The lawsuit alleges that hospital staff pursued the pair a minute later, "preventing them from leaving." After being stopped by staff, Calles turned and shot Smallwood in the neck.

The lawsuit also alleges that security staff discussed calling a "Code Silver" — an active shooter alert — after learning Calles was probably armed, but ultimately didn't do so until after Smallwood was shot. It also alleges hospital staff didn't start providing medical care to Smallwood until eight minutes after he was shot.

The lawsuit accuses Legacy of negligence, violations of Employer Liability Law and violations of the Oregon Safe Employment Act, and seeks up to $30 million in noneconomic damages and up to $5 million in economic damages.

Asked for comment, Legacy Health said it could not comment on pending litigation.