FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - A man who allegedly threatened to shoot up a hospital and fired a flare gun into the air outside of a Southern California hospital was arrested Wednesday without entering the building or hurting anyone, police said.
Shortly after 11:30 a.m., the man - whose girlfriend was being treated at the hospital - walked up to an emergency room security guard at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center Hospital in Fountain Valley and demanded help, authorities said.
The man said something like: “I need some help; if I don’t get some help, I’m going to hurt somebody,” Lt. Jarrod Frahm told the Los Angeles Times.
The man threatened to “shoot up the hospital” and fired a flare gun into the air, a police statement said.
The guard retreated into the hospital and called authorities.
Before officers arrived, a doctor and a nurse subdued the man, identified as Christopher Ray, 51, of Chino, police said.
Ray had a flare gun and a pellet gun, authorities said.
He apparently had been living in a recreational vehicle that was parked nearby, authorities said.
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