Man indicted in connection to choking newborns
Nov. 3—A teenager accused of trying to choke newborns to death at Odessa Regional Medical Center last month has been indicted on four felony charges, including two attempted capital murder charges.
Marcus McCowan Jr., 18, waived his arraignment hearing, which had been scheduled for Oct. 31.
According to Odessa Police Department reports, ORMC staff members noticed McCowan was acting oddly while awaiting the birth of his child on Oct. 3 and a charge nurse made him leave the Labor and Delivery area.
Staff told police that a short time later, McCowan ran at "full speed" at two nurses and a mom who was being released from the hospital and holding a newborn baby in a carrier. McCowan shoved one of the nurses and began to choke the baby in the carrier with both hands, the nurses told police.
They were able to rescue the baby, but then McCowan ran into the nursery, an area not accessible to the public, and began to choke another newborn baby, according to the report. A respiratory therapist and security officer were able to rescue the baby girl.
According to the report, when police arrived they handcuffed McCowan, but he twice tried to grab an officer's gun.
In addition to the attempted capital murder charges, which carry a prison sentence of five years to life in prison, an Ector County grand jury indicted McCowan on two other charges, assaulting a public servant, a third-degree felony and attempt to take a weapon from an officer, a state jail felony.
McCowan remains in the Ector County jail on surety bonds totaling $582,000.
