Hospitals Put on Lockdown After Caller Threatens to 'Start Shooting People'

A call to the Covina Police Department abut 1 p.m. today from an anonymous male who said that he was at the Citrus Medical Center and had an AK-47 "and was going to start shooting people" was determined to be a hoax.

Officer Rudy Lopez said there are no hospitals in the area named Citrus Medical Center, but because Queen of the Valley Hospital and Citrus Valley Hospice in West Covina are partnered with Inter-Community Hospital in Covina and Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora as part of the Citrus Valley Health Partners, those were the facilities police needed to check.

West Covina police went to Queen of the Valley Hospital at 1115 S. Sunset Avenue and Citrus Valley Hospice, 820 N. Phillips Ave., and searched both the inside and outside of the buildings. The two facilities went on a voluntary lockdown until about 3 p.m. when they both reopened.

A similar telephone call shut down a middle school in Monrovia about the same time.

The investigation is continuing, and Lopez said anyone with knowledge of what happened was asked to call (626) 939-8500 or an anonymous message can be left at (626) 939-8688.

- City News Service