A 47-year old man has been charged with the murder of a nurse after he stabbed her to death at the Freedom House Recovery Center in Durham, North Carolina.
Just before 2 a.m. on October 18, Durham pPolice responded to a frantic call at a non-profit behavioral health care agency. Upon arrival police discovered, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner June Onkundi had been stabbed.
She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she later died from her injuries.
James Gomes was arrested and charged with murder. He is currently being held without bond at the Durham County Jail.
Onkundi was a married mother of four children who loved her job as a mental health nurse, her friends and most importantly her family.
Her brother Andrew Nyabwari said, ” Our family’s loss is devastating as we are left to deal with this grief.”
Her family has created a GoFund Me account to assist with the cost of her funeral and other expenses following her death.
“She was dedicated, compassionate, kind, and caring,” the page states. “June would make any gloomy day a brighter one. Her voice and presence were magical to both staff and patients. The community has lost a great nurse.”
According to Onkundi’s family, she was preparing to begin a doctorate program at Duke University in January 2023.
North Carolina Nurses Association’s President Meka Ingram released a statement about Onkundi’s death.
“We are heartbroken by the senseless death of our colleague and fellow NCNA member, June Onkundi,” Ingram stated. “Our prayers go out to her friends and family. She dedicated her life to helping others and we should all be proud of the positive impact she had on some of the most vulnerable patients. Her loss has shaken the nursing profession throughout North Carolina.”
“Violence in the workplace is one of the greatest challenges facing nurses, and the problem has grown exponentially over the last few years. It is my desperate hope that June Onkundi’s death serves as a turning point and that those of us in healthcare can truly begin to address this problem,” the statement said.
Gomes has a history of crime as he has spent most of it in and out of prison. One of his past crimes was an attempted rape charge.
Gomes worked at an elementary school as a janitor and was claimed to have held a co-worker with a knife to her throat while he attempted to rape her.
Another result DemonCrat failed policies..
You mean failed Republican policies
I’m surprised this hasn’t happened more often. Jails are used as psych treatment centers and psych treatment centers are used as jails. Oftentimes the officers/nurses are poorly equipped to deal with the problems they face. They are understaffed (budgets) and overworked. I used to work these type of facilities and ALWAYS felt uneasy about the patient/staff ratios and the calibre of both the patients and the staff I was working with. As a psych RN, I was often going into situations to do assessments; unsure of what I ‘d find or how I’d be treated. The safest I ever felt was working the prisons, but the patients I dealt with, there, were some of the worst. My heart goes out to this lady’s family. You never think that as a nurse, you won’t make it home some night……but that appears to be rapidly changing.
Workplace violence has to stop. Part of the problem in hospitals is, they don’t want to upset the patient, or he may not come back. As a nation we have to stop this, and not minimize peoples horrible behavior!
So So Sad! So unfair that a loving, giving
lady loses her life doing what she had
devoted her life to. My heart and sympathy
goes to her children and other family
members. Let’s hope this killer is sent
to prison and remains there; where he belongs.