Houston's Ben Taub Hospital Shooting: Police Chief Says No Evidence Of Active Shooting

(Updated) HOUSTON, TX — A lockdown has been lifted after Ben Taub Hospital was evacuated Tuesday following reports of an active shooting, and Houston Police sources initially said a family member of a patient who became upset pulled out a gun and fired into the ceiling.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said there was no evidence at this time of an active shooting incident, and at 3:45 p.m., announced that the hospital would resume normal operations.

Meanwhile, police are continuing to search for a suspect and evidence of a shooting and are reviewing video footage to determine what prompted calls to the police department. (For news updates on this story and other Houston news, just click here to get Patch's daily newsletter and free, real-time news alerts).

At 1:58 p.m., the Houston Police and SWAT responded to a report of an active shooter at the hospital in the Texas Medical Center.

Acevedo said during a press conference that they'd received initial reports describing a balding white man with a gun on the second floor at about, but still nothing was verified.

Patients and staff were evacuated from the first two floors, and about an hour into the incident, police announced they are evacuating the remainder of the facility.

Police also began a methodical search of the hospital's six floors, and were not able to locate a suspect, Acevedo said.

"We have not found a suspect, and we have not found evidence of an actual active shooter," he said.

Acevedo said SWAT was conducting a second search using K-9 units and investigators were interviewing staff and patients who may have seen something.

Houston Police said at about 2 p.m. that they were dispatching SWAT to the scene and later on that a search of the hospital was underway for the suspect.

Officials said the alleged shooting was believed to have happened on the second floor of the hospital, but there was no report if anyone was injured.

Ben Taub Hospital is Harris County's level one trauma center and been in operation since the 1960s.

This is the second incident at Ben Taub Hospital in recent months involving a shooting.

In October, a Harris County jail inmate took a medical student hostage and was shot by deputies.

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