Houston's Ben Taub Hospital Evacuated, Reports of Active Shooter Situation

[Skiprr]

Both HPD Chief Art Acevedo and Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzales (both left-leaning new additions to the area) were on scene.

Unsubstantiated reports--mind you, this what one one-the-scene reporter said someone had told him, but he had no firsthand interview--said that a man became agitated and upset in the second-floor Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat area and pulled a handgun. Someone allegedly shouted, "Drop the gun! Drop the gun!" The "shooter" allegedly then put two rounds into the ceiling.

But still, as of the latest 17:00 update, LE is still indicating that no evidence of rounds fired has been found.

I'm going to scour public data tomorrow to see if I can find detail of the initial reports and resultant response. Acevedo said, more than once, that "multiple" MWAG and shots fired calls came in beginning at 13:58. He never said precisely how many calls "multiple calls" meant. I do find it a bit odd--considering how many TV reporters were on scene shortly after law enforcement, and how much the average person seems to like to try to get interviewed on-air--that I can find, at least so far, not a single Houston station that found any of the multiple callers to interview.

The LEO response seemed be very rapid, but I don't know arrival time following the first calls. And unlike recent mass shootings, like San Bernardino, there seemed to be no hesitation by LE to infill. I believed SWAT scrambled immediately with other responders and were probably on scene almost as quickly as the black-and-whites. By the time the media got wind of it and broke in over the air with the news, LEOs were already inside the hospital and conducting their initial sweep.

The hospital has a pre-established protocol that, in an active shooter event, calls for total evacuation other than in-progress surgeries. Evidently, that protocol was implemented immediately, even before LE arrival. I'm trying to wrap my head around why a semi-chaotic herding of patients, ambulatory and not, into congested hallways and elevators doesn't increase, not decrease, the targets immediately available to a mass shooter. But nobody asked for my opinion.

There were immediate responders from HPD, both beat patrol and canine, SWAT, the Harris County Sheriff's Department, and county fire and EMS. They quickly had several streets blocked off as part of the perimeter set. But then again, inside that perimeter were hospital staff and scores of patients on foot, in wheelchairs, and on gurneys. Maybe the hospital's protocol for an active shooter is the same as for a highly credible bomb threat. Dunno. But there were a lot of LEOs onsite in and around the hospital.

[Pariah3j]

False flag operation?

Aren't the phone numbers of calls placed to 911 logged? Seems multiple people should be getting visit from police about the call made from their phone. Unless they were all internal hospital numbers, but still with all the video surveillance you would think it could be easy to find out who called.

If prank or deliberate attempt at inciting terror there should be arrest and prosecution

Numbers are logged, but can easily be faked - this is why I suggested 'Swatting' earlier. Its one of the tactics for Swatting, call 2 or 3 MWAG or similar type threat from what appears to be multiple numbers and suddenly it becomes "real".

[Skiprr]

False flag operation?

Aren't the phone numbers of calls placed to 911 logged? Seems multiple people should be getting visit from police about the call made from their phone. Unless they were all internal hospital numbers, but still with all the video surveillance you would think it could be easy to find out who called.

If prank or deliberate attempt at inciting terror there should be arrest and prosecution

There were evidently a significant number of prepaid phones recently purchased at a Wal-Mart in Boerne that have come into question....

Kidding! Just kidding.

But an absolute "yes" on prosecution if this is determined to have been staged. Not only a massive LE response, but imagine being a patient or family member of a patient who had to be evacuated. KPRC reported that five critical-care patients had to be quickly moved to Memorial Hermann. And there was a class of 5th graders on a tour of the hospital when the evacuation was initiated.

Oh, and BTW, the hospital's active shooter protocol is called "Code White." That would leave Col. Cooper scratching his head.

[Jusme]

You're not paranoid, someone could have come in and fired blanks,...

Actually what I was saying, based on above posts that so far no one has been found who actually heard shots, is that the multiple calls with similar suspect descriptions might have been a coordinated attempt to test response. I was raising the possibility that no one heard shots and no one saw an bald white guy because there never were any and never was one. Probing and dry runs have been used prior to past terrorist attacks.

And as far as triggering a massive response just to shore up Acevedo --- noooo, don't think so. The chance for something to go seriously wrong, for some unfortunate incident like an AD (especially with injury) or a cop car enroute runs over somebody, or some patients die while being evac'd (perhaps coincidentally), that would blow up in the Chief's face would be way too high. I'll bet there is not a police chief in the country that doesn't get the puckers when he has a substantial bunch of his officers suddenly and unexpectedly running to the sound of gunfire. Nothing against or peculiar to cops -- any time any large organization suddenly deploys a lot of people the chance for mishap is significant.

And I don't buy any JFK conspiracy theories, at all.

I was not accusing you of being a conspiriltalist, I was simply responding to your statement about being paranoid.
There are a myriad of reasons someone, or several someones would call in a shots fired, report. I was only propagating a couple of possible scenarios, that may explain it. We have minimal info to draw upon, so any theory is as probable as another at this point.
Houston has a very left leaning police chief, and he he has proven himself with his time in Austin, to be so anti gun, that it borders on fascism.
I fully understand that the responding LEO'S are doing exactly what they are trained to do, and would expect no less from them.
Until more info is released, anything we put forward, is only speculation.

If I inadvertently offended, I sincerely apologize.

[Pawpaw]

My paranoia level has been noticeably elevated in recent months.

Just because you think they're out to get you doesn't mean they're not.

[PBR]

I heard the chief say multiple calls but channel 13 had corrected that afterwards saying was one single caller. On other hand I could see multiple calls easy as too the code white going out and people just calling. Or if someone came in screaming they seen someone.

[Lambda Force]

But that is a gun free zone, there couldn't possibly be an unauthorized gun in the building. No witnesses actually saw a gun. No bullet holes.

It makes you wonder what the real story is.

[LeonCarr]

I used to work with an RN who worked the ER at Ben Taub for 24 years. I ask her about the statistic that 75% percent of people shot with handguns live, and that 75% of people shot with rifles and shotguns die, and her response was, "Yeah, that's about right".

Good to see that nobody got hurt yesterday.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

[tomneal]

75% percent of people shot with handguns live, and that 75% of people shot with rifles and shotguns die

I am going to round that to 80% so it sounds like another 80/20 rule. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

43.7256% of stats are made up on the spot;-)

[Pariah3j]

75% percent of people shot with handguns live, and that 75% of people shot with rifles and shotguns die

I am going to round that to 80% so it sounds like another 80/20 rule. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

43.7256% of stats are made up on the spot;-)

Got the stats made up on the spot wrong - its closer to 80%, and only about 20% of people know that fact.