Hostage situation ends quickly at Denver VA Hospital

Blair Shiff of Denver television station KUSA reports,

DENVER - A hostage situation at the VA Medical Center near East 10th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard is now over.

According to the VA Police, they initially responded at 8:20 a.m. on Thursday.

A man who was a patient at the hospital took a nurse practitioner hostage inside an exam room on the eighth floor. VA officials say he held a loaded gun to the nurse during the hostage situation.

The hospital was placed immediately on lockdown. Both Denver Police and VA police responded, along with a hostage negotiator. The hostage situation lasted about 10 minutes, and the lockdown was lifted.

The nurse was not injured during the hostage situation.

Authorities took the patient into custody. He is currently being held in a cell within the VA facility.