Officials said because the threat was generic in nature, the decision was made to evacuate all seven Riverside Medical Clinic facilities across the county.
The Riverside Medical Clinic on Brockton Avenue in the city of Riverside was among the locations evacuated after a bomb threat was called in on Tuesday morning. The same thing happened at their Moreno Valley facility on Day Street, as well as five other campuses across the county.
It took bomb sniffing dogs only a couple of hours to clear the campuses, but not before more than 900 employees had to evacuate, and hundreds of patients had their appointments and outpatient operations canceled.
"I see other people are coming for appointments, and they're like, 'What?' It's crazy," said patient Debra Babcock.
She was one of many patients leaving the clinic, understandably upset, especially considering how difficult it is to schedule procedures in the first place.
"I've had it for a long time, and he's rescheduling it for December," Babcock said.
The call came into the Riverside Medical Clinic call center mid-morning.
"Today, RMC received a bomb threat -- earlier today. The police and fire are on site, actively monitoring the situation," a spokesperson with the clinic said.
All of the Riverside Medical Clinic facilities were given the all-clear around 1 p.m. Still, the facilities remained closed for the rest of the day.
"It's nonsense. It's a waste of everybody's time, because somebody, for whatever their reason is, wanted to cause a disruption of this magnitude. We're talking hundreds of employees, on top of all the patients that were affected. We had a local high school here that evacuated to a nearby park. It has caused a disruption, for what? What was the purpose behind this?" said Officer Ryan Railsback with Riverside police.
Eyewitness News watched as countless people arrived for their appointments, only to find the facility closed for the day. RMC said it will be reaching out to patients to reschedule their appointments and operations.
The investigation into who is responsible for the threat is ongoing.