LEWISTON – The irony was not lost on Russ Donahue.

The director of marketing at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center could only shake his head Tuesday morning at the coincidence.

It happened about an hour after the hospital had completed a routine disaster drill at 9:30 a.m. The scenario: a gun-wielding disgruntled relative of a resident at the d’Youville Pavilion nursing home goes on a rampage in the business office. Staff evacuate, clear the hallways, assume their emergency postures.

The announcement on the public address system that preceded the drill came with a coded message, alerting employees that it was a mock disaster.

But the code that came over the loudspeakers an hour later was different. This time it was real.

A man in a van had pulled up to the emergency room entrance with a gun to his head. He was surrounded by police, their guns drawn. “This is something else,” Donahue said.

Half of the hospital building was locked down, the floors overlooking the parking lot secured. Emergency vehicles were diverted to nearby Central Maine Medical Center.