The call came in a few minutes after 5 a.m. Tuesday.

A man, reportedly wearing a ninja outfit, was swinging a sword at the Carilion New River Valley Medical Center.

"He wasn't going after anybody or anything up there," according to Montgomery County Sheriff's Department Lt. Brian Wright.

But he was swinging a sword.

The man was Tony Burnett, 57, of Blacksburg. Blacksburg police had an emergency custody order to serve on him before he came into the hospital with the sword.

Burnett tried to enter a secure portion of the building the holds the St. Albans psychiatric center, but the building's security system locked down and Burnett was trapped in a corridor.

Eventually, hospital security, as well as law enforcement officers from Radford, Pulaski County, Montgomery County and Blacksburg, were involved in the incident that lasted roughly half an hour.

"They were able to get him to lay down the sword without anybody getting hurt," Wright said.

Then officers used pepper spray to keep Burnett away from the sword until they could subdue him.

Blacksburg officers took Burnett into custody long enough to serve the emergency custody order, which meant turning him over to St. Albans for a psychiatric evaluation.

"Our only interest in it was to get him to the hospital," said Blacksburg police Capt. Ken Gay.

Though several laws prevent the release of information about whether Burnett is being held in a psychiatric facility, he was apparently in such custody late Tuesday afternoon. Montgomery County deputies plan to charge him with assault and disorderly conduct, but they can't serve those warrants until his psychiatric evaluation is complete, according to Wright. They hadn't been served by 4:30 p.m.