'Broad Sword' Umbrella Puts Kirkland Hospital On Lockdown

KIRKLAND, WA - An umbrella shaped like a sword caused a lockdown of the EvergreenHealth campus in Kirkland Wednesday morning. The hospital circulated a picture of the person carrying the umbrella, which looked like an assault rifle.

However, the umbrella was actually shaped like a medieval sword. The umbrella, available on Amazon, is advertised as looking like a "broad sword."

The lockdown began at around 9 a.m., but was lifted about an hour later. During the lockdown, the hospital urged visitors to stay far away. Operations at the hospital returned to normal immediately, a hospital spokesperson said.

EvergreenHealth spokeswoman Sasha Weiler released the following statement about the event:

The lockdown at EvergreenHealth Kirkland has been lifted. We have located the gentleman in question and the unidentifiable object was confirmed to be an umbrella with a handle that is shaped like a sword. We took all necessary steps to exercise absolute caution to keep our patients, visitors, staff and community safe and we greatly appreciate the support of everyone to help ensure our campus was safe. Additionally, we thank the

Kirkland Police and the local and national media for helping us to inform our community and ensure this message was shared to keep our hospital safe.

The EvergreenHealth campus is located along Northeast 128th Street in the Totem Lake area. The campus includes a 318-bed hospital and four other medical buildings.

Image via Shutterstock