1 in custody at Virginia Beach General Hospital; police say no ‘active shooter’

One person is in custody after reports about a shooting at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital on Friday.

The department said in a Twitter post it is “not an active shooter incident.”

Lauren Patton, a Sentara Healthcare spokeswoman, said patients and employees are safe.

“There have been no gunshot wounds, and there’s no threat, currently,” she said.

Hospital staff received notifications Friday afternoon that there was an active shooter. Patton said any time there is a suspected incident, alerts go out to staff as a precaution. She did not immediately know how many people got the messages and whether they were only sent to Virginia Beach staff or systemwide.

“Just because that alert went out does not necessarily mean it’s been verified,” she said. “And that’s part of my role is to then follow up and verify.”

Officials did not release additional details about what happened, nor did they identify the person in custody.

This is a developing story. Check back to Pilotonline.com for more information.

Staff writer Ali Sullivan contributed reporting.

Sierra Jenkins, 229-462-8896, sierra.jenkins@virginiamedia.com