Police: Reports of Active Shooter at Medina Hospital Were a ‘Hoax’

Police in Medina, Ohio said that reports of an active shooter at Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital were a “hoax” and that there was never any danger in the hospital. The hospital was shut down for nearly two hours after reports that an armed woman had been threatening people on the premises.

Late Tuesday afternoon, police gave the “all clear” after an extensive, floor-by-floor search for a potential shooter. Police said that nobody was hurt and no shots were fired.

The Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital went on lockdown Tuesday afternoon, and police rushed to the scene amid reports of an active female shooter in the clinic’s medical office building. Police said that no shots had been fired and that they were searching the building, floor by floor, for a woman who is believed to be armed and who may have threatened hospital staff or patients.

The clinic confirmed the lockdown in a tweet and said that there was a “potential active shooter situation” in the clinic’s medical office building. Officials also urged people to stay away from the area.

The full text of the tweet said, “Police are on scene at Medina Hospital responding to a potential active shooter situation in the medical office building. Both the hospital and office building are on lockdown. We advise no one travel to the Medina campus.”

Craig Webb, a reporter with the Akron Beacon Journal, shared a photo of police heading towards the hospital. You can see that at least some of the officers are heavily armed and appear to be wearing body armor:

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Reports Said Hospital Patients & Staff Were Sheltering in their Rooms Behind Makeshift Barricades

WJW Fox shard a photo which it said it had obtained from inside the hospital. The photo seems to show a room barricaded with hospital furniture, a mop bucket, and bags:

And another hospital patient told a Fox reporter that she was sheltering in her room, along with another patient and a nurse. The three had managed to push a bed against their door to create a barricade.

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Cleveland Clinic First Announced the Situation in a Text to Their Staff

Just before 2PM today, the Cleveland Clinic’s alert service sent out a text message warning people that there was a “code silver / active shooter” situation in the clinic. The message called on everyone in the clinic to take immediate action to protect themselves.

The full message read, “There is a Code Silver / Active Shooter situation on Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital. Take immediate action to protect yourselves and others. ALICE options: Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate. More info to follow.”

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.