SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The Naval Medical Center at Balboa Park issued a shelter-in-place order Friday morning, leading to a heavy law enforcement presence as the San Diego Police Department searched for a suspect.
"We took all our patients and we all went into the T.V. area and we barricaded in there," said Sharon Castro, who works as a Psych Tech at the medical center.
According to the Navy, officers received a report of a suspicious person with a gun around 10:40 a.m. Friday. As SDPD officers investigated, they determined there was no active shooter and no shots were fired. The Navy also told ABC 10News there was no active shooter.
At around 11:50 a.m., SDPD confirmed it has an unarmed person in its custody. Officers on scene said they don't expect to find a weapon on the hospital campus.
“Thank God for that, that nobody was hurt," said Castro, who was reunited with her daughter after the shelter-in-place was lifted.
#UPDATE Navy confirms there was no active shooter. There were reports of a “suspicious person with a gun”. That person was taken into custody, no gun was found.
— Natalie Chuck KGTV (@NatalieChuck) April 14, 2023
Could not confirm why the person was on the property.
Shelter in place appears to be lifted now @10News https://t.co/JckOgp8jCn pic.twitter.com/JHujoj6ztd
Others saw news articles circulate social media as they waited from across the country to find out if their loved ones were safe.
“His mom was pretty much having an anxiety attack, me myself I was calculating how long it would take for me to get out there," said Jonathan Eldridge, who lives in Florida.
His stepson works at the medical center.
The Navy says this was an isolated incident, and it cannot confirm if the person was a patient or someone who happened to wander onto the property.
The shelter-in-place order expired around 12:20 p.m.
Sky10 flew over the scene as law enforcement responded en masse.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 150 mass shooting in America in 2023.
“I think about all the other people that have been hurt at their jobs. It’s really scary," said Castro.
