Charges filed against man accused of firing flare at Orange Coast Memorial Hospital

A 51-year-old Chino man accused of firing a flare gun and threatening to shoot up Orange Coast Memorial Hospital in Fountain Vallley was charged with two felonies on Friday.

He faces counts of making criminal threats and of grossly negligent discharge of a firearm, according to the criminal complaint.

Shortly before noon on Wednesday, April 8, Fountain Valley police received multiple calls of a possible active shooter in the hospital’s parking lot.

The man, later identified as Thomas Christopher Ray, had fired a flare-gun round into the air and threatened a security guard, who retreated into the hospital to call for help, police said.

“His statements were something to the effect of: ‘I need to get help, and if I don’t I’m going to hurt somebody,’ ” Fountain Valley police Lt. Jarrod Frahm said shortly after the incident.

A nurse managed to restrain Ray before police arrived. No one was injured.

Authorities found a flare gun and a replica firearm in Ray’s possession, they said. Ray’s girlfriend was being treated at the hospital.

He was being held in custody in lieu of $50,000, according to jail records.