A man in his 50s shot himself to death in the parking lot outside the emergency room at Whittier Hospital Medical Center on Sunday morning, authorities said.

At 10:49 a.m., Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies asked residents to steer clear of the area because of a report of a person with a gun. They said the situation was “contained.”

Norwalk Deputies responded to Whittier Community Hospital regarding a person with a gun. The situation is contained, investigation is ongoing, Please stay clear of the area… pic.twitter.com/pjzRYgynj2 — LASD Norwalk Station (@NorwalkLASD) September 16, 2018

Sheriff’s deputies and Whittier police officers responded to the hospital at 9080 Colima Road.

By around noon, two Whittier police cruisers remained with lights on in the parking lot of the hospital’s emergency room. A gurney and medical equipment sat behind police tape underneath the hospital’s sign.

Lt. Dominic Iraldo of the Whittier Police Department said the death was a suicide. He did not immediately identify the man who shot himself.

Iraldo said the man was suffering a mental health crisis and his family had come with him to the hospital in an effort to get him help.

Sheriff’s officials said the hospital was briefly placed on lockdown during the incident.

A security guard at the front desk of the hospital said officials there would not answer any questions about the incident.

This was the second incident of a possible shooting that resulted in a lockdown of a local hospital in less than a week. On Sept. 11, a patient at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Downey threw a chair through a window, leading heavily armed police to evacuate the hospital while they searched for the man.

Despite witnesses who reported hearing gunfire, police said the man did not fire a gun during the incident. A handgun the man left inside the hospital after hiding it under his clothing was later found.

For help: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 1-800-273-8255, offers free and confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

City News Service contributed to this story.

See also: Patient smashes window at Kaiser hospital in Downey; initial reports of gunshots were unfounded