Two Evanston Hospital security officers are suing the city for severe negligence over injuries they sustained in last year’s shooting incident in the hospital’s emergency room, alleging the city’s nonpolice alternative response team knew or should have known the shooter was armed before he was voluntarily transported to the hospital.
On the evening of June 5, 2025, the city’s Crisis Alternative Response Evanston (CARE) Team responded to a call at the downtown Taco Bell at 1737 Sherman Ave. about a man who “appeared to be suffering an unknown mental health affliction,” per police reports at the time. The man, later identified as Christian Haywood, reportedly spoke to CARE Team responders and agreed to be evaluated by Evanston Fire Department paramedics on-site, before being voluntarily taken to the hospital via EFD ambulance with his possessions.
Once there, Haywood reportedly became agitated, lunged for one of his bags, pulled out a semiautomatic pistol and fired it multiple times. These shots struck one security officer, and during a struggle to disarm and subdue Haywood, he bit a second security officer; these two are respectively identified in the lawsuit as Maricela Ortega and Lanise Jones…