Hospital placed on lockdown after caller reports suspicious group
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (BCN) - A South Bay hospital was placed on lockdown this morning after a 911 caller reported seeing a possible gunman, according to the Santa Clara County sheriff's office.
Just before 6:30 a.m., dispatchers received the call, in which the caller said the possibly armed suspect was part of a suspicious group of people at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, sheriff's spokesman Rich Glennon said.
Responding deputies, along with San Jose police officers, then surrounded the hospital, which is located at 751 S. Bascom Ave. in an unincorporated area within San Jose.
The hospital was placed on lockdown as authorities searched it.
They were ultimately unable to locate the group the caller described, according to Glennon.
"We took all the proper precautions to make sure the hospital was safe and checked the entire hospital," Glennon said.
Authorities were able to locate the caller and learned the caller was a patient at the hospital suffering from mental illness.
Authorities also spoke the caller's family and hospital staff and determined the caller's claims did not have merit, according to Glennon.
As of about 7:40 a.m., authorities deemed the area safe and the hospital was taken off lockdown.