A report of an active shooter at Hyatt Tamaya Resort and Spa Monday afternoon that caused hundreds of guests and employees at the resort to shelter in place for nearly four hours turned out to be a hoax.

Police received a call to report a shooter at the resort at 2:13 p.m. Police were on the scene at 2:16 p.m. Guests at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort were told to stay inside their rooms. The Santa Ana Star Casino Hotel and Twin Warriors Golf Club nearby were also on lockdown, but those were lifted. By 6:45 p.m., the resort was cleared and the FBI said there were no injuries, no arrests, no proof of a shooting and the call was being treated as a hoax.

Kevin Hendricks/Observer
FBI Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda.

“There’s still an ongoing investigation, but I what I can tell you right now is there’s no threat to the community or to the resort itself,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda said.

The road leading to the resort was blocked off by a single police car around 3:30 p.m. Monday. An unmarked police car with sirens blaring headed towards the resort at 4:40 p.m. Monday. Several law enforcement agencies responded to the call.

“We got a big, big response today,” Bujanda said. “So you got all your state, local and tribal partners really working together to include other federal agencies to making sure that, first of all, we address the threat. We take everything seriously because you don’t know exactly what it is you have until you actually go and investigate.”

Police had a similar response to hoax calls at Bernalillo, Cleveland and Rio Rancho high schools in February reporting an active shooter at each school.

Social media was abuzz with rumors or multiple dead at Tamaya Monday afternoon, which turned out to be false.

“That’s why I’m able to tell you there is no longer a threat there,” Bujanda said. “Those people that are there and staying there and enjoying their time, they’re going to be able to go back and do the activities that they were doing before. Now the ongoing piece as far as this investigation is we want to find out what it is that happened to try to make sure we push back against some of that misinformation that comes out.”

Nathan K. Garcia, the governor of Santa Ana Pueblo, was thankful that nothing serious happened and expressed his gratitude to the first responders who made sure everyone at the resort was safe.

“Today we had an incident that went through dispatch of an active shooter at Hyatt Regency Tamaya,” Garcia said. “We are so thankful for all the resources that came, all the different agencies, all the different law enforcement that came. Again, we got the building clear, no casualties, no any incidents. Thank God nothing happened.”