BALDWIN PARK - Police surrounded and apparently locked down Kaiser Permanente Medical Center late Sunday after receiving threats of violence, officials said.

The situation began at 4:30p.m. when police received a 9-1-1 call making a nonspecific threat. The hospital received a similar phone call, Baldwin Park police Lt. David Reynoso said.

"These were threats of bodily harm toward someone," Reynoso said. "No one specific was named."

Reynoso said officers monitored pedestrian traffic into and out of the hospital, but as far as he knew officers did not prevent anyone from entering.

People outside the hospital told a different story Sunday evening.

Stephanie Duran, 29, of Long Beach said she had been waiting for hours to go inside after a friend died at the hospital. She said she was not allowed inside.

Another man, a West Covina resident who declined to give his name, said he had been in the facility since Saturday attending to his wife. He said he left for dinner Sunday evening. When he returned, he was not allowed back in.

"I left just long enough to get dinner," the man said. "(My wife) said all the rooms were locked down."

For about an hour, hospital  staff had only intercom communication with patients, according to the West Covina resident.

"If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have left the hospital," he said.

Reyna Del Haro, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said there are 269 beds in the facility. She refused to answer any other questions.

Deputies from the sheriff's Industry Station briefly patrolled the hospital perimeter with M-16s. There were no reports of gunfire.

"We received word that there was a gunman inside," Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Liam Gallagher said. "We couldn't confirm it."

During the time police cordoned off the hospital, rumors of a gunman loose in the hospital spread among a crowd of 20 people gathered outside.

As she stood among them Sunday night, Duran said she had been in communication with people inside via two-way radio.

Friends told her there were three suspects inside the hospital to "finish a hit" on a gunshot victim.

Reynoso said that there was at least one gunshot victim in the hospital. That person was involved in a shooting outside Baldwin Park.

Reynoso said police would conduct a search of the hospital.

crime@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2718

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Kaiser Permanente on Lockdown, Reason Still Under Investigation
Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Baldwin Park is
under lockdown, officials said today.
  
Reyna Delharo, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said police were in the
medical center and that a patient was being investigated, but it's not clear
why. A Baldwin Park police dispatcher said the hospital was under lockdown, but
would not say why. ABC7 reported that the lockdown was related to a possible
gang shooting, but Delharo said there had been no shooting inside the hospital.
  
"There hasn't been a shooting here at the medical center," Delharo
said. "We had a patient brought in. I don't know if anybody here is armed or
not. I'm waiting to find out more information."