{
  "id": "2018-11-13-cleveland-clinic-medina-hoax",
  "slug": "cleveland-clinic-medina-hoax-2018-11-13",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital (Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine teaching site)",
    "shortName": "CCF Medina",
    "state": "OH",
    "type": "private-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "Cleveland Clinic Alert Service",
    "alertPlatform": "Mass-notification + overhead page",
    "enrollment": 32
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2018-11-13",
    "type": "swatting",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "resolution": "confirmed-hoax",
    "headline": "Hoax call reporting an armed hostage-taker locks down hospital for two hours",
    "headlinePublic": "Hoax call reporting an armed hostage-taker locks down hospital for two hours",
    "summary": "On November 13, 2018, a caller [identifying himself as 'Jerry Smith' told Medina Police](https://www.cleveland19.com/2018/11/14/police-release-call-that-triggered-active-shooter-hoax-medina-hospital/) that a woman was holding people hostage with a gun on the second floor of Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital, a teaching site for the [Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/files/org/about/emergency-management/cleveland-clinic-alert-service-faq.ashx?la=en) of Case Western Reserve University. The 1:30 PM EST call placed the hospital and an attached medical office building on lockdown for two hours. The caller [remained on the line for nine minutes](https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/oh-medina/authorities-release-hoax-call-that-prompted-lockdown-for-active-shooter-situation-at-medina-hospital) with what police later described as an unusually relaxed demeanor before hanging up; the FBI later joined Medina Police in the search for him.",
    "outcome": "After a sweep of the hospital and the medical office building, the scene was declared clear at approximately 3:30 PM EST. No shots were fired and no suspect was ever located. The FBI joined Medina Police in pursuing the hoax caller.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2018-11-13T14:18:00-05:00",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "Police are on scene at Medina Hospital responding to a potential active shooter situation in the medical office building. Both the hospital and office building are on lockdown. \n\nWe advise no one travel to the Medina campus.\n\nWe will continue to share updates.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/CleClinicNews/status/1062424403043061761",
      "sourceDescription": "@CleClinicNews on X (verbatim raw t.co)",
      "annotations": [
        "Posted publicly by Cleveland Clinic's official @CleClinicNews account at 2:18 PM EST on November 13, 2018 (per the post's X status-ID timestamp), roughly 50 minutes into the lockdown; it explicitly localizes the threat to the medical office building and directs the public to stay away from the Medina campus",
        "This is the first publicly transmitted message in the documented alert sequence; an internal Code Silver overhead page had already alerted on-site staff, but that page's wording was not preserved, so this public post is typed as the initial alert. The phrase 'We will continue to share updates' signals that further public messages were intended to follow"
      ],
      "characterCount": 260
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestamp": "2018-11-13T15:46:40-05:00",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/CleClinicNews/status/1062446670611398657",
      "sourceDescription": "@CleClinicNews on X (verbatim)",
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "context": "On November 13, 2018, a caller [identifying himself as 'Jerry Smith'](https://www.cleveland19.com/2018/11/14/police-release-call-that-triggered-active-shooter-hoax-medina-hospital/) (with what reporters described as a 'thick' or 'foreign' accent) told Medina Police just before 1:30 PM EST that a woman was holding people hostage with a gun on the second floor of Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital. The call placed both the hospital and an [attached medical office building](https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/oh-medina/all-clear-given-at-medina-hospital-after-lockdown-for-potential-active-shooter) on a two-hour lockdown, with [close to 150 law enforcement officers from multiple agencies responding](https://www.cleveland19.com/2018/11/14/fbi-teams-up-with-medina-police-track-down-hoax-caller/). Cleveland Clinic Medina is a teaching site for the [Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/files/org/about/emergency-management/cleveland-clinic-alert-service-faq.ashx?la=en) of Case Western Reserve University, hosting emergency-medicine and internal-medicine residents on rotation. The caller [stayed on the phone for nine minutes](https://fox8.com/news/medina-hospital-says-its-on-lockdown-after-alert-about-possible-active-shooter/), describing a hostage scenario with unusual specificity but with a 'relaxed demeanor' that Medina Police Chief Ed Kinney later said was atypical for genuine hostage situations. After a building sweep found no female suspect and no shots had been fired, the scene was declared clear at approximately 3:30 PM EST. The [FBI subsequently joined Medina Police](https://www.cleveland19.com/2018/11/14/fbi-teams-up-with-medina-police-track-down-hoax-caller/) in the search for 'Jerry Smith'; the [911 recording was publicly released](https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/medina-county/listen-hoax-911-call-released-after-lockdown-at-cleveland-clinic-medina-hospital/95-614461526) the following day in hopes the voice would be recognized. The case is one of the earliest documented hospital-targeted swatting events at a Cleveland Clinic facility, predating the 2025 Mercy Hospital bomb threat and Fairview shooting lockdowns by nearly seven years.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The 2018 hoax pre-dates the 2022-2025 swatting waves by several years, an early documented example of a hospital-targeted hoax lockdown",
    "Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital functions as a Lerner College of Medicine teaching site, meaning residents on rotation were among those sheltered in place, a population usually invisible in Clery-style emergency-notification metrics",
    "Medina Police released the 911 audio the next day to seek public identification of the caller, predating the FBI's coordinated public outreach during the 2022-2025 swatting waves"
  ],
  "responseTimeMinutes": null,
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Police: Active shooter situation at Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital was a 'hoax' (Cleveland 19)",
      "url": "https://www.cleveland19.com/2018/11/13/cleveland-clinic-medina-hospital-placed-lockdown-possible-active-shooter-situation/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Police release 911 call that triggered active shooter hoax at Medina Hospital (Cleveland 19)",
      "url": "https://www.cleveland19.com/2018/11/14/police-release-call-that-triggered-active-shooter-hoax-medina-hospital/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "FBI teams up with Medina Police to track down 911 hoax caller (Cleveland 19)",
      "url": "https://www.cleveland19.com/2018/11/14/fbi-teams-up-with-medina-police-track-down-hoax-caller/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Police: Medina Hospital situation was a 'hoax' (News 5 Cleveland)",
      "url": "https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/oh-medina/all-clear-given-at-medina-hospital-after-lockdown-for-potential-active-shooter",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Listen: Hoax 911 call released after lockdown (WKYC)",
      "url": "https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/medina-county/listen-hoax-911-call-released-after-lockdown-at-cleveland-clinic-medina-hospital/95-614461526",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Cleveland Clinic News (@CleClinicNews) on X, lockdown announcement",
      "url": "https://x.com/CleClinicNews/status/1062424403043061761",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "Cleveland Clinic Newsroom: Police Responding to Potential Active Shooter at Medina Hospital",
      "url": "https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2018/11/13/police-responding-to-potential-active-shooter-situation-at-medina-hospital/amp/",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Cleveland Clinic Alert Service FAQ",
      "url": "https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/files/org/about/emergency-management/cleveland-clinic-alert-service-faq.ashx?la=en",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://x.com/CleClinicNews/status/1062446670611398657",
      "type": "social-media",
      "title": "@CleClinicNews on X (verbatim)"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "hoax",
    "swatting",
    "code-silver",
    "ohio",
    "cleveland-clinic",
    "lerner-college-of-medicine",
    "case-western-reserve",
    "teaching-hospital",
    "911-audio-released"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-13",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-20",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}