Man In Custody In Connection With JMH Threats

MIAMI, FL — A man was taken into custody Friday after Jackson Memorial Hospital received threats that someone was planning to shoot staff. Detective Argemis Colome of the Miami-Dade Police Department told Patch that no one was injured and the hospital remained open as officers conducted a floor-by-floor searchof the facility.

"This guy called and said he was going to shoot up the staff because they hurt his mother," Colome told Patch, adding that the initial threat was received at 1:32 p.m. "There was never an active shooter. Through some investigative means they were able to apprehend a subject at 3:04 p.m."

Jackson Memorial Hospital is the major teaching facility for the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine with more than 1,550 licensed beds. It is also home to Ryder Trauma Center, which is the only adult and pediatric Level 1 trauma center in Miami-Dade County.

Colome said he did not know if the man was armed. He was being questioned by police and had not immediately been charged. Police did not immediately identify the man and described him as a possible suspect.

Earlier in the day, the man had complained to hospital staff about the care that a woman he referred to as his mother had been receiving at Jackson.

Hospital spokeswoman Tania Leets referred inquiries to the Miami-Dade Police Department. The hospital later confirmed on social media that there was no active shooter at the facility.

Friday's incident came one day after a lone gunman killed five people at The Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland.

Photo by Paul Scicchitano