Police: Psychiatric hospital patients held staff against their will with makeshift weapons

PHOENIX – Three patients at a state psychiatric hospital were arrested after police said they barricaded themselves in the facility and held staff against their will.

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A spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Health Services told KTVK that three patients at the Arizona State Hospital were taken into custody by Phoenix police after attempting to use items at the facility, including medical equipment, as weapons.

Police and hospital officials told KNXV that the assaults happened inside the hospital’s forensic unit, which houses patients deemed criminally insane.

On its website, the Arizona State Hospital describes itself as providing “long-term inpatient psychiatric care to Arizonans with mental illnesses who are under court order for treatment.” The hospital has 260 beds and is overseen by the state’s health department.

The patients are accused of breaking pieces of medical equipment, and threatening to use the pieces as weapons against the staff, whom they did not allow to leave the treatment unit, KPNX reported.

Police told KTVK that the three staff members, identified as a man and two women, suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene.

“Such incidents are extremely rare, and the Arizona State Hospital has established procedures in place to protect staff and patients if one should occur,” ADHS spokesperson Steve Elliott said in an emailed statement to KTVK.

Police determined after the initial arrests that only two patients were involved, and one was not an active participant, KNXV reported.