NHRMC lockdown caused by man charged with armed robbery

New Hanover Regional Medical Center is back to business as usual after an emergency lockdown Tuesday night.

Police have charged Shamel McCallum with attempted armed robbery.

Police say McCallum attempted to rob the Two-Fifth clothing store on South 17th Street, and was shot in the foot by a store employee.

McCallum went to the hospital around 7:30 p.m. and threatened to kill an employee if he wasn’t treated.

New Hanover Regional spokesperson Carolyn Fisher said hospital employees acted quickly. “Volunteers at the desk, as a precaution, notified special police and they called a lockdown: at which point the man ran into the emergency department and barricaded himself in a bathroom.”

Police were eventually able to get McCallum to open the door.

He had been released from prison on December 22 after serving a sentence for common law robbery and assault on an officer.

Fisher said the hospital will not seek further charges.