Hospital Lockdown Lifted, Police Still Following Leads On Threat

SANTA ANA, CA — Santa Ana Police reported that the search of Orange County Global Medical Center has come to an end, Tuesday, with no gunman found. The police conducted a three hour search of the facility, including the emergency room, basement, storage facility, back building and seven story patient tower and no threat was discovered. The lockdowns were lifted at 11:15 a.m.

"We have determined that the facility safe at this time," Santa Ana Police Chief David Valentin said. "I am proud of the unified and immediate response of our officers, and our unified response."

The threatening phone call to police was initially made from an internal hospital network line. Santa Ana Police are continuing to research where and who made the call and why.

"We are looking at everything," Valentin said. "Whether it was an employee, a past employee, a patient. What is most critical is that when we get a call such as this, we want to make sure the facility is safe first." Next, the police and hospital will research the complex phone system to discover if the call was a hoax, or if there was an actual threat.

According to a hospital spokesperson,they will be able to pinpoint the location of the call, it will just take time.

"I'm very proud of our staff for how they responded," the hospital spokeswoman said.

Approximately 120 patients inside the hospital continued to receive care during the lockdown, Valentin said. 40 officers searched inside the hospital, while others remained outside securing the perimeter.

At 8:15 a.m. Santa Ana Police received a call from inside the OC Global Medical Center phone network.

"The caller said that he had a gun and then hung up," Valentin said. Within four minutes, Santa Ana Police were inside OC Global Medical Center searching for the suspect. They were joined by officers from Orange County Sheriff's Department and Orange County Fire Authority.

Nearby schools were placed on lockdown. Calvary Christian School verified that as of 9:30 a.m. they were on precautionary lockdown, a school spokesperson told Patch. Those lockdowns have since been lifted.

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Santa Ana Police Photo