Updated: Assault victim treated, hospital on lockdown

By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com

ROCKINGHAM — Details are scarce, but it seems that the emergency department at FirstHealth Richmond Memorial Hospital is on lockdown after a male patient was brought in, the apparent victim of multiple stab wounds.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com

Adult family members in the parking lot of the Long Drive facility declined comment as their children waited word of the condition of the man.

Sources report the man was stabbed five times. The extent of his injuries are unknown as of 9:45 p.m. A walking tour outside of the hospital indicated no detectable police presence.

Update Thursday at 9:20 a.m.: Ellen Geanes, a FirstHealth spokeswoman, said the emergency department implemented “a precautionary locked Wednesday evening.”

Such an event, she said, “is a standard procedure to ensure the safety of patients, staff and visitors. The lockdown was lifted around midnight Thursday without any incident.”

Update Thursday at 10:41 a.m.: A police source with knowledge of the investigation indicated that there was no stabbing, but that two man had been involved a physical altercation and one of the men had been brought to the hospital for treatment.

The police officer said the injuries weren’t anything “that stitches wouldn’t handle. ”

He said the hospital’s standard operating procedure includes to lockdown the area where one person involved in such an incident is being treated if it is not known if authorities do not have the other person in custody or otherwise located.

In this case, the man being treated refused to cooperate with police and “the case is dead,” the officer said.

Update 4:12 p.m., Thursday: Johnathan Scott, 33 of Bryan Street in Rockingham, was involved in a fight on 10/01/2014 at approximately 7:30 p.m. at Gardenwood Apartment complex.  Officers responded to the scene and spoke to the victim who was found sitting on a picnic table bleeding.  EMS was called and he was transported.   He was treated for lacerations at RMH and released after his treatment.  He would not tell the officers who assaulted him.