DALLAS — A little more than a year ago, two employees were shot and killed in the maternity ward at Methodist Hospital in Dallas' Oak Cliff neighborhood.
Now, the suspect in the Oct. 22, 2022, shooting is going on trial.
Nestor Hernandez is accused of killing Jacqueline Pokuaa, 45, and Annette Flowers, 63. Pokuaa was a social worker at the hospital and Flowers was a nurse.
Jury selection in Hernandez's trial began Monday in Dallas County.
Hernandez was indicted on a charge of capital murder of multiple people, along with aggravated assault of a deadly weapon and aggravated assault against a public servant.
He has been held at the Dallas County jail with his bail set at more than $2 million, according to online records.
Here's the full background of the case:
How did the shooting happen?
On Oct. 22, in both hospital surveillance and officer bodycam video edited by the Dallas Police Department, Hernandez is seen arriving at Methodist around 10:20 a.m. to visit his girlfriend, who just gave birth to their child.
Hernandez is seen entering his girlfriend’s hospital room, where police said he assaulted her with a handgun.
Pokuaa, a social worker, then entered the room to provide routine care and was shot by Hernandez one time, according to police.
One gunshot, screaming and crying could be heard on bodycam video from Methodist Sgt. Robert Rangel. In the next moments, police said Hernandez fired another gunshot toward Rangel, who, along with Flowers, had responded to investigate what happened.
Several seconds later, a third shot could be heard in the video. Police said this shot was the one that wounded Flowers, who later died from her injury.
As Hernandez reloaded his weapon, Rangel reportedly fired one shot at Hernandez, which struck him in the leg. Hernandez then retreated back inside his girlfriend’s hospital room.
Following a 10-minute standoff with law enforcement, Hernandez was taken into custody inside the room and was treated for his gunshot injury.
Police said the newborn was in the room during the shooting but was uninjured.
Here's video released from the hospital from when the shooting happened:
Who were the victims?
Pokuaa was from Ghana and moved to the U.S. with four friends over 20 years ago. The Ghana Nurses Association described her as friendly with a big smile.
"This is a big tragedy in the family, the community, in the medical field," said Aba Amprofi-Halm of the nurses association. "When these is chaos, she's very calm and that's her personality. And that's what she died doing... she died helping."
Amprofi-Halm said Pokuaa leaves behind one son.
A nurse at the hospital told WFAA that Flowers was a "great caring nurse who love her job."
"She loved her daughters and grand-babies. She recently renovated her house and was looking forward to retirement," the nurse said about Flowers.
What happened in the aftermath?
Controversy has surrounded Hernandez’s case, due to him being out on parole for a violent aggravated robbery. Hernandez had also cut off his ankle monitor earlier in 2022, violating his parole conditions for a second time – but was released after spending 100 days in custody at the order of the state parole board, law enforcement sources told WFAA.
A bill filed by a Dallas lawmaker aimed at making it a crime to cut off ankle monitors was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.
State Rep. Rafael Anchía (D-Dallas) filed the legislation in response to the tragic October 2022 shooting at Methodist Hospital Dallas. Anchía named two of the bills after Jacqueline Pokuaa and Annette Flowers, the two hospital workers killed during that shooting.
In Texas, it wasn’t a crime to cut off your ankle monitor. It was only an administrative violation. After passing through the 88th Legislative Session and Abbott's signing, Senate Bill 1004 made it a crime.
“Breaking your ankle monitor is like breaking out of jail," Anchía said earlier this year. "I promised our community to pass legislation that would prevent this tragedy in the future. The ankle monitor law, which received bipartisan support, will protect Texans and increase accountability of offenders on parole.”
What did Hernandez's ex-girlfriend say?
Selena Villatoro was Hernandez's ex-girlfriend who witnessed the shooting. Villatoro sat down with WFAA in February to talk about what happened.
She said Hernandez initially wasn’t supposed to be at the hospital but got permission from his parole officer to visit Villatoro and his newborn son the next day.
Villatoro said he texted before he left the house around 7 in the morning.
"He was texting good at first. Like when he woke up. He was, like, asking me how’s the baby,” said Villatoro.
Villatoro says he didn’t show up until just before 11 a.m. and appeared to be drunk. Surveillance video of him inside the hospital showed him holding a beer.
“I seen he was mad, you know because he had a beer in his hand. Like, who would come into the hospital with a beer?” said Villatoro.
She said he appeared drunk. Villatoro said he began calling his relatives.
"He called them like to tell them goodbye. Like, 'I love you.' Like, 'Y'all be good and stay safe.' He was saying his goodbyes," Villatoro said.
She said Hernandez would get mean and jealous when he was drunk. He began accusing her of having another man in the room before he got there, she said.
”He said, 'You got me messed up' and he’s like, 'I’m not dumb. I told you to stop playing with me.' He’s like, 'We are going to die today,'" she said.
Villatoro said she was holding the baby in her arms, terrified he would kill them and anyone who walked through the door.
"He was like, 'Press the button, press the button' and I was like, 'No, you are trippin''' and I had the baby... He hit me on this side of the head and I thought he was going to hit the baby and he just kept hitting me," said Villatoro.
She said that’s when Jacqueline Pokuaa, a hospital caretaker, walked in.
“She came in and she had some papers. He got up and he went around her and he just shot her and I was, like, trying to make eyes with her, looking at her trying. I don’t even know what I was trying to do. He shot her and that’s when it all happened," said Villatoro.
More coverage of the Methodist Hospital shooting: