ROCHESTER, NY – Rochester police are still trying to understand why Robert Abert, 70, fatally shot his mother Florence Abert, 94, before turning the gun on himself inside the Pearl Nursing Center in Rochester on Sunday .

The initial call was about a possible active shooter inside the nursing home, which drew dozens of first responders to the scene. As News10NBC reported Monday, for a short time, other residents and employees of the care center were unsure if they were in direct danger until police cleared the facility room by room and found the two Aberts dead.

City of Rochester and Monroe County Emergency Medical Director Dr. Jeremy Cushman was responsible for ensuring that EMTs and paramedics could reach anyone else inside who needed help. “I can’t imagine the staff and residents of the facility had this experience. There are no words to describe what this experience was like for them,” he told News10BC.

That’s why Dr. Cushman, paramedics and firefighters spoke with each of the residents moments after the shooting. “When we went into each room, we just wanted to reassure them that they were safe, that there was, at that time, no concern for their safety, but that we needed to evacuate so that the police can carry out the investigation,” he recalls.

EMS crews then carefully removed residents and needed medical equipment from the crime scene.

“Luckily there’s a large room right off the first floor that was commandeered if you will, to be able to move all of these individuals and there was only one figure, but some of them definitely had complex medical needs, and we were We were able to move them all there so the facility staff could return to work and start taking care of them,” says Dr. Cushman.

EMS crews, police and firefighters will now meet to discuss how the situation was handled, evaluate their response and see if they can do anything differently, in the unfortunate event that they experience something again like that.

The Pearl Nursing Center administrator and the SEIU1199 union, which represents most of its employees, are working to provide residents and workers with any counseling services they may need.

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