Reported call of gunman at Erlanger turns out to be a hoax; lockdown lifted

photo An ambulance pulls into Erlanger's emergency room entrance in this file photo.

Erlanger hospital came off a lockdown at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday after they received a call that there was a man with a gun who ran through the Emergency Room, according to Chattanooga police.

The search ended after a 19-year-old man admitted to officers that he made a false report. The man was led out of the emergency room area of the hospital in handcuffs by an officer and placed in the back of a patrol car.

Well over a dozen police cars were parked near the emergency room. The lockdown lasted about an hour.

"We don't believe any patients were in danger at any point," said Pat Charles, Erlanger spokeswoman.

Initially police were told that a man entered one of the elevators in the hospital after running through the emergency room lobby. Police had to shut one wing of the hospital down and conduct room to room searches. Nothing was found, according to authorities.

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