MARION COUNTY, Fla. — The man accused of grabbing a trooper’s gun and shooting a nurse in an Ocala hospital said he was confused about what happened.
"I felt like I was threatened. The officer started to pull his gun out. I grabbed his hand," said Jason Gignac.
Investigators said he was spotted walking on Interstate 75 Saturday morning.
Gignac said he was trying to get home but ended up in the hospital, scared and confused.
“I started to freak out. I was panicking and that’s when everything happened I guess,” said Gignac.
Watch: Jailhouse interview with alleged hospital shooter
He’s facing numerous charges after investigators said he attacked a trooper and reached for his gun.
“I grabbed his hand, everybody started tussling and the gun went off,” Gignac said.
A bullet struck a nurse in the leg. She is OK.
He said he didn’t immediately know a nurse has been hit.
“I thought it hit the officer,” said Gignac.
He said he was scared and confused when he got to the hospital and was convinced troopers were going to harm him.
“I felt like they were going to kill me,” said Gignac.
Before the shooting, Gignac was handcuffed to the hospital bed while doctors examined him.
When troopers uncuffed him from the bed, Gignac said he went after them.
He said he wasn’t thinking straight because of dehydration.
“I had to drink puddle water because I was so thirsty and I keep getting sick from drinking that puddle water I guess,” he said.
While he was walking on the interstate, troopers encountered him multiple times and warned him to stay off the interstate.
The third time, he asked for medical attention and was taken to the hospital.
Gignac said he regrets what happened and is sorry the nurse was injured.
“That was not my intention at all, whatsoever,” he said. “I just hope her and her family forgive me for what I’ve done. I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional.”
His mother told Channel 9 he is a drug addict.
Gignac said he smoked marijuana that day but wasn’t high at the hospital.
Cox Media Group
