The ex-wife of the psychiatric patient who murdered a case worker before being shot three times by his psychiatrist has words of thanks for pistol-packing Dr. Lee Silverman:

‘I just want to meet the doctor and thank him,’ Kimberly said at her tidy red-brick house in a Philadelphia suburb.

‘I am not saying I wish he had killed him, I would never feel that way about anyone, but a world where my ex is not around will be a much safer world.

‘He has been in and out of trouble for 20 years and if he hasn’t been rehabbed by now he never will be. I hope he never gets out of prison — we will all be in trouble if he does.

‘He has never been stable. He is very unpredictable. He can be the nicest person in the world, talking with you and then suddenly he would get the look of evil in his eye and he would put a knife to your throat.’

Richard Plotts pulled a .32 revolver and executed case worker Theresa Hunt after arguing about the Mercy Healthcare System’s “no guns” policy, and then opened fire on his doctor, Lee Silverman. Dr. Silverman ducked for cover behind his own desk and pulled a .32 semi-automatic, firing it over the desk until it ran dry, hitting Plotts three times. Other hospital employees then tackled the wounded Plotts and disarmed him.

Police have credited Dr. Silverman with stopping a mass shooting. Plotts had 39 additional rounds of ammunition in his pockets, and authorities suspect that he intended to murder both Hunt and Silverman as part of a rampage through the hospital.

Dr. Silverman also violated Mercy Healthcare’s policy on carrying a firearm in the hospital system’s buildings, but it appears that he will not be fired for violating policy, since his decision to violate the policy and return fire likely prevented a massacre of hospital staff and patients.

A family member posted a photo of Silverman recovering from wounds to his head and thumb at home.

He is expected to fully recover from his wounds.