A man was arrested Jan. 5 after allegedly making threats about Tulsa, Okla.-based Saint Francis Hospital to a gas station clerk and posting online, police said in a statement on their Facebook page.
The department said police were called to the hospital on Jan. 4 to deal with a disturbance in which the suspect, Troy Eaton, was interfering with healthcare workers who were treating his mother. Mr. Eaton was removed from Saint Francis. Later that day, Mr. Eaton went to a nearby gas station where he indicated that he was going to return to the hospital and "go postal," police said they were told. Police were also told that Mr. Eaton said, "I'm going to go back there and shoot the place up."
Additionally, police said they learned Mr. Eaton posted a threat to the hospital on his personal Facebook page.
Mr. Eaton on Jan. 5 "admitted that he had a disturbance at the hospital, made several statements to the gas station clerk, then posted a threat online," according to police.
He was arrested and charged with threatening a violent act. As of Jan. 9, he remained in jail with a $25,000 bond.
Cliff Robertson, MD, president and CEO of Tulsa-based Saint Francis Health System, shared the following statement with Becker's: "In healthcare, we are accustomed to working with people during some of the hardest days and times of their lives; and, we understand that displays of anger often have underlying causes — but that doesn't excuse the behavior. We will escort offenders off campus, we will call the police and we will press charges.
"We are extremely grateful for our relationship with and responsiveness of the Tulsa Police Department and all of our regional law enforcement agencies. We have a zero tolerance policy for threats and violence against our team members and are thankful that our local law enforcement professionals take these threats as seriously as we do."