An inmate from East Mississippi Correctional Facility was able to wrestle away the sidearm of a prison guard at Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center early Friday morning, wounding himself in the hand before the guards could subdue him.

    Authorities said two shots were fired during the scuffle. The inmate, identified by authorities as William McVay, was quickly subdued and secured by the two prison guards. No one else was injured in the incident.

    EMCF Assistant Warden Bart Grimes said Friday afternoon McVay was being prepared for transport at about 6:45 a.m. by the two prison guards. As they attempted to place constraints on McVay, McVay lunged for the guard’s sidearm. Only one of the two guards was armed with a firearm. The incident occurred on the third floor, east wing of the hospital where general medical and surgery patients are treated.

    “The inmate was treated for his injury and is now back in his cell here at the facility,” said Grimes. “The Meridian Police Department is handling the investigation.”

    EMCF is managed by the GEO Group Inc., which is one of the largest security force and prison management corporations in the world.

    When Meridian Police Department Chief Lee Shelbourn was notified early Friday morning of an armed man inside the hospital he immediately began to fear the worst.

    “There were so many things, all of them pretty bad, that were going through my head,” Shelbourn said later Friday. “I was relieved to hear a few minutes later that everything was back under control.”

    Ray Humphreys, the CEO for Anderson Regional Medical Center, said the entire incident was over in a matter of seconds.

    “We are certainly going to launch our own investigation to see if we can do anything different in terms of procedures and protocol to ensure we don’t have another incident,” said Humphreys Friday. “We will be meeting with officials with GEO to get their assistance and input as well.”

    Humphreys said the last shooting incident that occurred at the hospital was 25 years ago. He said the medical center sees about 130,000 patients a year and routinely accepts inmates from county jails and prisons on a regular basis.

    “This facility has a very good record in terms of patient safety and infrequency of incidents such as this,” Humphreys said.

    Humphreys has been the CEO at Anderson Regional Medical Center for two months.

    According to Mississippi Department of Corrections records, McVay was convicted of burglary and forgery in Tishomingo County. He was admitted into the prison on April, 23, 2007 and is serving a nine year sentence for both charges. Grimes said additional charges against McVay may be forthcoming

    Humphreys said he could not comment on what medical condition McVay had that brought him to the hospital citing privacy regulations under HIPAA.