Medical assistant killed in Buffalo clinic shooting ‘cared for so many people,’ friend says

Naiya Stubbe said that on the day of the shooting in Buffalo, Minnesota a friend and neighbor sent her a screenshot of the scene at the Allina Clinic. Right away, she texted her friend Lindsay Overbay, a medical assistant there, and asked if she was OK.

Overbay’s husband dropped their two children at Stubbe’s house and went to find out what was happening, she said.

The children ended up staying the night — because that same evening Stubbe found out her friend and their mother was killed in the shooting.

“People that know her will just remember how special she was. Her laugh… I can’t describe it. Her laugh is just amazing, and it was just so contagious,” Stubbe told CNN.

Overbay was killed and four other Allina Health employees were wounded Tuesday when a 67-year-old man, who authorities said was dissatisfied with his care, is alleged to have opened fire in the center. The suspect, Gregory Ulrich, is being held at the Wright County Jail. All five victims of the shooting were Allina Health employees, the company said.

Overbay, a medical assistant who had worked for the company since 2018, died at Hennepin County Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Christine Hill said. She was 37, according to a GoFundMe page.

“I want the world to know she was an amazing woman,” Stubbe said. “She cared for so many people… She was furthering her career in the medical field to help support her family even more.”

Stubbe said she and Overbay met through mutual friends around 2004 when she was in cosmetology school in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Overbay was at St. Cloud State University, and they “stayed friends ever since.”

They spoke almost every day via text or social media and cared for one another’s children, Stubbe said.

“She was a wonderful mother, she lived and breathed those children, she loved them so much.”

Stubbe set up the GoFundMe page to help the Overbay family. As of Wednesday night, it had raised more than $170,000.

“She was the bright light in so many people’s lives, she could light up a room with her contagious laugh. Lindsay was attending college classes to further her career to make sure she could provide a better life for her two beautiful children,” a statement on the fundraising site says.

Gov. Tim Walz directed all flags at state and federal buildings in Minnesota to be flown at half-staff until Sunday evening to honor the victims.

“The State of Minnesota joins the family and friends of the front-line workers, first responders, and the Buffalo community in grieving those who were injured and the loss of Medical Assistant Lindsay Overbay,” Walz said in a statement.