Healing Process Begins After Guam Shootings

March 1, 2001

Tamuning, Guam, USA (Territory)

The healing process following the February 26 shooting at Guam Seventh-day Adventist Clinic has begun; though the physical wounds of the survivors are healing more quickly than the emotional wounds, say local Adventist Church leaders.

Peter Maguadog, 44, entered the Adventist Clinic, Monday at 11 a.m. and in the following minutes fatally shot his ex-wife, Lucia Maguadog, and Bernadette Moreno. Both women were nurses at the clinic. Four other people were wounded in the attack before police fatally wounded Maguadog.

As of Wednesday night, February 28, all the victims of the shooting, with the exception of Jordan Urban, had been released from Guam Memorial Hospital. Although Urban remains in the hospital, his condition has improved and he is no longer in the intensive care unit.

"We visited JC yesterday and while he is very weak, he was responsive and we were able to talk and pray with him for a few minutes," says Remenster Jano, executive secretary of the Adventist Church in Guam-Micronesia. Doctors attending Urban report that they expect him to be released from the hospital within the next week.

The day after the shooting the emotional healing began with a special service held at the Agana Heights Adventist Church to remember the dead and pray for the wounded. Over 440 members of the community packed the church to capacity.

Those in attendance included clinic staff, family members of the victims, Guam legislators, and members of the press. The common denominator of shared grief brought together a group that crossed denominational, ethnic, and cultural lines.

Several Adventist pastors including the president of the Adventist Church in Guam-Micronesia, Willy Nobuo, spoke reminding the audience of the promises the Bible holds for believers during difficult circumstances. Most touching were the tributes offered by family, friends, and coworkers of the victims.

Julie Emmanuel, human resource director at the clinic, remembers Lucia Maguadog and Bernadette Moreno as being very different. "If variety is the spice of life, then Lucia and Bernie enriched our lives," said Emmanuel. Emmanuel described Maguadog as being a strong and resilient person who commanded respect and Moreno as being a person who loved to laugh and make others happy.

The Agana Heights Adventist Church service was not the only religious service held. Mass was held at several Catholic Churches around the island, which is 85 percent Roman Catholic.

Tuesday evening, February 27, the clinic offered its first group counseling session. Three more sessions were offered Wednesday and Mike Mahoney, clinic administrator, indicated that further sessions would be available if there was a demand for them. He adds that individual counseling will also be available to anyone who wants it.

The Guam Police Department finished its investigation of the crime scene February 28 and returned control of the premises to clinic officials. At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Mahoney reported that limited services would be available Thursday.

Mahoney says that some employees are ready to return to work and others are not. "We have assured them that we will work with them as long as it takes for them to be prepared to go in," says Mahoney. "Nobody is going to be rushed into doing something
they don't want to do."

Mahoney feels there are enough staff willing and ready to work to open the clinic partially.

As the healing process starts, Nobuo is thankful for the many people and organizations around the world that have lifted up in prayer those effected by the tragedy at the Adventist clinic.

"I have received messages from all over the world telling me we are being remembered in prayer," says Nobuo. "It has been a much needed boost to our heavy hearts to know our brothers and sisters in Christ are praying for us."

The Guam Seventh-day Adventist Clinic, established in 1955, is a multi-specialty medical and dental clinic that employs more than 200 people.

Killed:

Lucia Maguadog, 43, nurse, who was estranged from her husband, Peter Maguadog.
Bernadette Moreno, 27, nurse.
Peter Aguon Maguadog, 44, former clinic employee and alleged gunman.

Wounded:

Betty Vence, 56, chief accountant
Tom Kim, 46, business consultant
Anthony Cruz Jr., 26, supply clerk
Jordan Urban, 29, Guam Adventist Academy accountant

Three Dead, Guam in Shock

By Eric F. Say

It began as a normal Monday morning in late February at a health clinic where people come to be healed but by noon two people would be dead, four clinic employees wounded by gunfire and the shooter wounded by police fighting for his life. That life would also end a few hours later. It is a day that Guam will not soon forget with people dead, wounded and a community asking the question: why?

Peter Aguon Maguadog entered the Seventh Day Adventist Clinic at about 11:30 a.m. He met a former co-worker Anthony Cruz and asked him to help locate his wife, nurse Lucia Maguadog. But a nursing supervisor told Cruz that Maguadog was not to see his wife by court order and he was left to find her on his own. Little did they know that the estranged husband was intent on carrying out a murderous confrontation with his wife and to seek revenge against his former employer.

Maguadog found his wife in the Urgent Care area, shot her at point blank range in the head and then turned his gun on nurse Bernadette Moreno who and inflicted a fatal wound.

Published police reports state that Maguadog encountered Cruz again and shot him in the neck at point blank range. Bleeding profusely from the neck wound and in fear that he too was dying, Cruz fled to call his mother and newlywed wife of one month, Julie. After contacting both, he was taken by a maintenance supervisor to clinic doctors who stabilized him.

But Maguadog’s rampage was not over. The former employee reloaded his gun as he proceeded back downstairs, into the accounting department. There he found chief accountant Betty Vence, who had fired him in February 2000, and Jordan Urban. “Pete walked in the door, stood outside my office and said: ‘You’ve ruined my life, and now you’re going to die,’” Vence said. She said that had she not raised her hand in front of her face while Maguadog fired his gun she would also be dead. The gunman’s bullet passed through her hand while just after that, Maguadog then wounded Urban.

Maguadog proceeded into consultant Tom Kim’s office and took him hostage, shooting him twice in the leg. Kim said that Maguadog said, “I am a freedom fighter for the Chamorros. I will be the first one who will die and hopefully the last one to die for this cause.”

Almost 20 minutes had now passed since the deranged gunman had entered the clinic when Guam policemen arrived on the scene. Feeling that he was in a “do or die” situation, Kim says that he began struggling with Maguadog for the gun when another shot went off which ripped through his right shoulder. Now bleeding badly, Kim continued to attempt to get the gun but he says fortunately, the gun jammed and no other shots were fired.