A 61-year-old man is now in custody, after barricading himself in a hospital room at Albany Med Monday with his 97-year-old mother, and a gun in the room, Albany Police said. That sent the hospital into lockdown.
The gun was later determined to be a BB gun, police said.
“All the staff here are accounted for and safe. All the patients here in the hospital are safe,” Albany Police spokesperson Steve Smith said.
The suspect is being evaluated medically, along with his mother.
One woman, Rebecca Speenburgh, said her family had just said goodbye to a loved one who passed away, when a nurse came in the room.
“We said our goodbyes. We were about to pack everything up and leave, and then the nurse came in and was like, ‘Um, we’re on lockdown, like, you can’t leave,’” said Speenburgh.
At one point, police used a flashbang device outside the hospital to distract the suspect, Smith said. It made a loud noise, as intended. However, Smith wanted to make it clear the device was not used in the hospital.
Patients were being taken care of, and no staff were in harm’s way, police said. However, some outpatient appointments were cancelled. Some critical patients were still being allowed in.
“Our staff is resilient. They’ve faced a lot of challenges in the last couple of years,” said Albany Medical Center spokesperson Matt Markham. “Tonight is just another example of how hard they work, and how everybody really looks after each other here at Albany Medical Center.”
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