An emergency room doctor at Willapa Harbor Hospital in South Bend was attacked.

SOUTH BEND — A man is facing two felony counts following an alleged attack on a doctor at the Willapa Harbor Hospital on Sept. 22. The attack appears to have been at random with no motive.

The South Bend Police Department responded to a 911 call that a disorderly subject was inside the emergency room. The first officer to arrive discovered a chaotic scene with blood and a pile of people holding the attacker to the floor.

The suspect is John J. Horgan, 65.

“I immediately placed the subject into handcuffs,” Officer Eric Fuller states in court records. “Once the subject was handcuffed, I assisted the hospital staff to their feet. I allowed everyone to catch their breath, and I went ahead and knelt down next to the subject.”

An additional officer from the Raymond Police Department arrived at the hospital and assisted by documenting the scene.

Officers learned that Horgan was reportedly asleep in an ER room before walking out with a piece of paper and asking for a pen. He then, without hesitation, kicked Dr. George Dueber in the back, stabbed him in the face with a pen, and then placed the doctor in a chokehold.

According to court records, what followed is nothing short of heroism by hospital staff.

Paula Gonzalez was the first staff member to react. She grabbed onto Horgan to try and remove his hand from Dueber’s neck. Additional staff came running from all over the hospital to a distress call.

“Ashley Snodgrass told me that when the assault started, she immediately flipped the switch for the duress alarm,” Fuller states in court records. “Snodgrass advised me that she then paged overhead for more assistance to the ER.”

Snodgrass also called 911 while another employee called Dr. Stephen Hill to come in and evaluate Dueber, who had been injured. Hill also ordered the staff to administer a sedative to Horgan to subdue him.

“[Elisha] Sansom was alerted to the need for assistance via the overheard page that was made by Snowgrass,” Fuller states in court records. “Sansom advised me that she was able to tell it was Snodgrass yelling for help, and [she] and Natalie Hurley headed towards the ER.”

Sansom and Hurley arrived at the ER and found that Gonzalez and a witness, Angie Coates, who was inside the ER with a family member, were struggling to subdue Horgan.

Along with Dueber, two others sustained minor injuries in the scuffle. It is unclear why Dueber was attacked. He told officers he had not met with Horgan because the man was asleep when he arrived for his shift.

Horgan was held at the hospital on Hill’s order because he believed the man needed to be evaluated at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia. Horgan was cleared to be taken into custody on Sept. 23 at 8:54 a.m.

At the moment, Horgan faces charges of second-degree assault and third-degree assault. During a preliminary hearing on Sept. 24 in Pacific County Superior Court, his bail was set at $100,000 by Judge Donald J. Richter.

Horgan is scheduled to be arraigned in the superior court on Sept. 27 at 1:30 p.m.

Fuller spoke with a relative of Horgan’s and learned the man had a history of mental illness. He reportedly was held for several years at the Western State Hospital in Lakewood, which is a state-operated psychiatric hospital.