The suspect in the fatal stabbing of a social worker at San Francisco General Hospital is being held at the same location where the attack occurred.<\/p>\n
Wilfredo Tortolero-Arriechi, 34, did not appear in court Tuesday, where he was expected to be arraigned on multiple charges, including murder, in connection with a grisly Dec. 4 attack<\/a> that left 51-year-old social worker Alberto Rangel dead. <\/p>\n Tortolero-Arriechi was unable to attend the hearing, according to his attorney, public defender Sylvia Nguyen, because of his mental state. He is currently in the county jail facility at SF General, reserved for inmates in mental health crises.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want to give my condolences to the victim, his family, and friends,\u201d said Nguyen outside of court.<\/p>\n Prosecutor Edward Mario says he plans to file a detention motion that will keep Tortolero-Arriechi in jail for the foreseeable future. His arraignment has been continued to Dec. 16.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very serious homicide case,\u201d said San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman.\u00a0<\/p>\n Staffing and security <\/p>\n The killing of Rangel has kicked off an independent probe into the hospital\u2019s security protocols and finger-pointing about who was ultimately at fault in the tragedy. The San Francisco Sheriff\u2019s Department maintains a locked jail facility for people in need of psychological care requiring hospitalization. It is also supposed to patrol other parts of the campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n The sheriff\u2019s deputies\u2019 union has defended its members in the wake of the attack, connecting security risks at the hospital to policy changes enacted by the city. In particular, it highlighted a staffing shift begun in 2021 that nearly halved the number of deputies posted at the hospital, largely replacing them with health care professionals and non-sworn sheriff personnel.<\/p>\n However, documents obtained by the Standard show the sheriff\u2019s department had difficulty appropriately fulfilling even those lower staffing needs.<\/p>\n An internal Nov. 4 email, obtained by The Standard, said that the Psychiatric Emergency Services department, which is a locked ward for psychological emergencies, had seen its deputy presence decline by 50% since August.\u00a0<\/p>\n The issue has continued as recently as last month, documents show. According to a report of deputy staffing at the unit, the department responsible for handling adult emergency mental health issues did not have a deputy on duty for 17 days in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sheriff\u2019s office spokesperson Tara Moriatry said in a statement that while the agency does not track granular staffing data, the data collected by The Standard is erroneous.\u00a0<\/p>\n Psychiatric Emergency Services \u201cis one of the last hospital posts from which we would pull deputies,\u201d she said, adding that there are always deputies on the campus who can respond to security issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n SF General said in the aftermath of the killing, the hospital is taking immediate measures to tighten security and protect patients and staff, including restricting access to the facility where the attack occurred, imposing more stringent security protocols, and posting additional sheriff\u2019s deputies at the location.<\/p>\n The Department of Public Health has also enlisted an outside firm to conduct an independent assessment of the hospital\u2019s security, as well as that of the larger agency.<\/p>\n \u2018A reckoning point\u2019<\/p>\n Colleagues remembered the victim, Rangel, at a candlelight vigil on Sunday night where they described him as a generous and devoted friend with a fierce devotion to patient care. A GoFundMe in honor (opens in new tab)<\/a> of Rangel has raised more than $100,000.<\/p>\n A licensed clinical social worker at UCSF said Monday that staff have raised safety concerns for years that went unaddressed before Rangel was killed last week in what she called a symptom of systemic failures at the health system.<\/p>\n Authorities said a sheriff\u2019s deputy had been dispatched to protect a doctor at Ward 86 after Tortolero-Arriechi allegedly made threats earlier that day. The suspect encountered Rangel in the hallway instead. A 5-inch knife was recovered at the scene.<\/p>\n