FBI Working With Pasadena Police on Huntington Hospital Bomb Threat Hoax

The FBI is working with Pasadena police to identify whoever called in a Friday morning bomb threat hoax at Huntington Hospital.

The caller, who claimed to be a member of an online group known as 764, threatened Huntington Hospital with explosives and an armed attack, triggering a large police response that located no bombs and ended without any immediate arrests, Pasadena police Lieutenant Sam De Sylva said.

The caller claimed that multiple explosive devices had been placed throughout the hospital and said two additional suspects were headed to the hospital in a stolen vehicle and intended to shoot people with automatic rifles, De Sylva said.

The hoax pulled police officers, firefighters and explosives-detection K-9 teams onto the hospital campus for hours, diverted incoming rescue ambulances to other hospitals and placed Huntington Hospital on a lengthening national list of medical centers targeted by false emergency reports — three days after the FBI warned that hospitals had become a focus of such calls.

The threat came in at approximately 5:49 a.m. and was received from an internet address, according to city of Pasadena chief communications officer Lisa Derderian.

Police secured the hospital campus while officers, including K-9 units, searched buildings for suspicious packages or devices.

Pasadena Fire Department units were on scene as well, as a measure taken out of an “abundance of caution.”

The all clear came shortly after 9 a.m. No injuries were reported.

Patients and staff were not evacuated during the incident. The hospital closed to visitors early Friday but stayed open to patients, including emergency department patients, under screening protocols. Incoming emergency room traffic was diverted to other hospitals during the search, Derderian said.

“Our hospital is open to staff and patients, with screening protocols in place,” Huntington Public Relations & Media Director Dorey Huston said in a statement issued at 8:22 a.m. The hospital did not cancel scheduled care. “We aren’t canceling elective procedures or appointments,” Huston said.

By 9:47 a.m., Huston said normal operations were resuming.

“The safety and well-being of our patients, staff, and community remain our highest priority,” the hospital said in its statement.

The city has since classified the call as swatting — a hoax report of a bomb, shooting or hostage situation made to draw a large emergency response.

“It takes numerous resources every time something like this happens,” Derderian told the Los Angeles Times.

U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28), whose district includes Pasadena, said in a statement released through her congressional office Friday afternoon that her staff is in contact with hospital leadership and investigators.

“I am aware of the bomb threat at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena this morning. The Pasadena Police Department responded immediately, and I am grateful they were able to quickly secure the safety of all patients and employees,” Chu said. “My office is in contact with hospital leadership and authorities as they conduct an investigation to identify those responsible so they can be swiftly held accountable.”

The threat came three days after the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center issued a public service announcement on August 4, describing a shift in swatting activity toward schools, government buildings, houses of worship, transit centers and hospitals.

The bureau said such calls waste government resources and pull emergency personnel away from legitimate emergencies, and it described recent incidents as part of a coordinated effort aimed at multiple victims and locations across the country.

Hospital swatting calls have reached Southern California before. In April, a bomb threat at Southern California Hospital in the Culver City area drew an explosives-detection K-9 response and was determined to be a swatting call. No evidence of a device was found.

Anyone with information about the call may submit a tip to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI.

No arrests have been made. Pasadena police and their “law enforcement partners” are continuing to investigate in an effort to identify the caller, Derderian said.