Indiana Regional Medical Center was the target of a fake emergency call over the weekend.
State police said that on Saturday evening, a reported threat was phoned in to Indiana County 911 for a man pointing a gun at a woman. State troopers were then contacted, and on the scene for less than an hour, and IRMC did initiate a lockdown of its campus as a precaution. Police determined it to be a swatting incident, which is a prank call to emergency services to bring a large number of authorities to a particular address, and that no such incident occurred.
State Police Public Information Officer Trooper Cliff Greenfield said that the response was an “all hands” situation.
The prank can pull resources away from a legitimate emergency. He added that those who pull the prank off can be punished.
Similar false alarms have been reported at the University of South Carolina and at Villanova University. Those incidents were reported on Sunday.
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