Turkish hospital scare ends as gunman surrenders

A potentially dangerous crisis in Istanbul ended after negotiators convinced an armed policeman in an Istanbul hospital to surrender.

The gunman had locked himself in a hospital room and threatened to shoot himself, but surrendered after three hours of talks with police negotiators.

It was initially believed that a policeman, a psychiatric patient at the hospital, had taken hostages in one of the hospital’s wings.

It later emerged that the gunman was threatening to shoot himself and was not seeking to harm anyone else.

The gunman was a patient for the last two years at a psychiatric unit of Istanbul's Cerrahpasa hospital, Turkish media reported.

"The patient is a police officer. He has a gun. There are no hostages," Zekayi Kutlubay, the chief doctor at the hospital, was quoted as saying by Hurriyet.

The gunman was enraged after being told by hospital staff that he be admitted for more extensive treatment, Hurriyet quoted Kutlubay as saying.

The policeman was receiving outpatient treatment at the hospital for the last two years, hospital officials said.

Kutlubay also said the hospital had provided an evaluation report in August stating the gunman not be allowed to carry a firearm due to his mental state.

It is believed the gun carried by the gunman was not officially issued to him.

Police special forces and hostage negotiating units were immediately dispatched to the hospital.

All security forces are on high alert in the wake of multiple terror attacks in Turkey.