Safety concerns are being raised at WakeMed after a man was arrested for bringing a gun to the hospital on New Bern Avenue.
Travion Jackson, 21, was arrested on Thursday. According to court documents, Jackson brought the gun to the hospital campus “for the purpose of terrifying others.”
“It was really scary,” said Cindy Chamblee, a woman who was at the hospital when the incident happened.
Chamblee said she was at the hospital visiting her mother when she saw Jackson sitting on the ground near the main lobby in handcuffs and surrounded by police.
“If he was there to try to find somebody, he could have probably easily done it,” Chamblee said.
A spokesperson with WakeMed says staff members reported a fight involving guns and multiple people at a hospital parking deck.
The hospital was temporarily put on secured access while WakeMed Campus Police officers searched for suspects who had reportedly entered the hospital. Officials said the group responsible had left the hospital, while police arrested Jackson.
Chamblee questions what could have happened if the police hadn’t arrested Jackson when they did.
“You can probably go anywhere in that hospital, and nobody will even know it,” Chamblee said. “You don’t have to check in or anything.”
WRAL News has reached out to WakeMed, asking what security measures are in place to try to prevent situations like this from happening, and if there were any metal detectors or weapon detection systems at this WakeMed location.
Officials said the hospital “constantly reviews its current safety measures and security incidents, including weapons detection, to further enhance security efforts.”
But for Chamblee, it’s not enough.
“They need to make hospitals and places like that safe for the patients and the people there,” Chamblee said.
Jackson now faces several charges, including felony in possession of a gun on an educational property, since WakeMed falls under the UNC Board of Nursing, armed to terrorize people and possession of a firearm by a felon, after he was convicted last year for possessing a weapon of mass destruction.
The investigation is still ongoing.