WYNNE — CrossRidge Community Hospital in Wynne briefly went on a “soft lockdown” Wednesday afternoon following phone threats made to the hospital.
Gary Sparks, CrossRidge Community Hospital administrator, said several threatening phone calls were made to phone numbers at the hospital. The hospital notified the Wynne Police Department after a weapon was mentioned in the threat. Sparks said the phone call appeared to be an out-of-state number but turned out to be computer-generated. The incident occurred at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Wynne Police Chief Richard Dennis said officers with the Wynne Police Department were on scene within minutes and made contact with an individual. The chief said the individual calmed down quickly, and the incident was never out of hand after the original threats were made.
About 20 police officers walked the hospital and grounds without incident. While the threat mentioned a weapon, no weapon was ever seen, officials said.
The “soft lockdown” was in effect for only about 30 minutes. Officers with the Arkansas State Police and the Cross County Sheriff’s Department were also called to the scene as a precautionary measure. The individual was placed under arrest.
St. Bernards Healthcare also released a statement following the incident.
“On Wednesday, we received a credible phone threat from an unidentified individual who claimed to be at St. Bernards CrossRidge,” said Mitchell Nail, media relations manager for St. Bernards Healthcare. “We immediately alerted law enforcement officials and locked our facility. With the presence of law enforcement, we authorized a thorough search of our hospital, which confirmed that no active aggressor was on site.”
