An "active shooter" investigation that caused an evacuation of a Dallas County Health and Human Services building Thursday ended up to be a false alarm.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told reporters a woman in the building heard five to eight loud bangs, then called a relative. Her relative then called the police, Jenkins said, after which law enforcement put the building on lockdown.
Jenkins said the Dallas Police Department performed a sweep of the building, but found nothing. The Dallas County Sheriff's Office also double checked the building.
Witnesses at the scene said they were told to evacuate the building around 3 p.m.
Justin Chandy, a nurse, said he was drawing a patient's blood when he got the alert to shelter in place just before 3 p.m. He said they were ordered to leave the building about 20 to 30 minutes later.
"We didn't feel an immediate threat until the marshal came and started shouting, saying 'Hey, we're here,' then that sense of kind of fear set in."