Shooting scare at Houston hospital turns out to be hoax

Houston, February 22

Panic gripped a hospital in the US state of Texas following a false alarm of gunfire, leading to evacuation of patients.

The Ben Taub Hospital at the Texas Medical Centre was put on lockdown and patients were evacuated on Tuesday as multiple callers reported that shots were fired; however, no one was found injured, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said.

Two hours later, it appeared to be a misunderstanding or false alarm, officials said.

Life is back to normalcy at the hospital. Patients are safe and back in their beds.

Police Chief Art Acevedo said there were multiple calls just before 2 pm about an active shooter involving a bald white male with a gun.

After a thorough sweep of every floor, officers found nothing.

“We have not found anyone injured. We have not found anyone shot and we have not found a suspect,” Acevedo said.

Among those caught up in the chaos was a group of students at the hospital for a field trip. They were all safe and were later seen leaving on a school bus.

At first, many stayed where they were and followed orders. They assumed the threat was real based on reports of two guns shots.

“Started locking all the doors and barricading all of the doors and we didn’t believe it was a drill,” said a patient’s husband.

A SWAT physician called it “organised chaos”.

“The first thing is you have to control the natural panic, which people in emergency medicine do all of the time,” he said.

“It was challenging, but again at this time, fortunately all patients are accounted for and are safe,” said Ben Taub Medical Director Dr Tovar. PTI