Many passengers however were “being screened by explosive detection K-9 units” before being allowed to enter the terminals for re-screening, she said, adding that reports “of an active shooter at LAX were unfounded”.
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The false alarm comes as police investigate whether a raucous Olympics celebration August 14 led to noises people believed were shots at New York’s Kennedy Airport, with the ensuing chain reaction turning into a panic as crowds ran to evacuate.
It’s similar to a false alarm that led to a panicked evacuation two weeks ago at Kennedy Airport in NY, when a boisterous celebration of the Olympics may have been misinterpreted as gunfire, authorities say. “Others say they just heard ‘run!'” he said.
Terminals 1, 4, 6, 7 and 8 were evacuated, and roadways into the airport were shut down, causing gridlock on area streets, according to Assistant LAX police Chief Dave Maggard.
Los Angeles airport police said on Monday they were investigating whether passengers had mistaken loud noises of some kind for gunfire, leading to panicked evacuations the night before at the huge hub of global travel. “What happened was that somebody called and said there’s a man in dark clothing out here and they got scared I guess”.
Pedregon said Monday that police have found no connection between the two incidents. “It is a fact that with access to a live stream of all security cameras in our airports we would be able to protect the public with much more efficiency”, said Marshall McClain, president of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association, and co-founder of the AAAPO.
USA airport security officials have been on heightened alert in recent months following deadly attacks at worldwide airports in Belgium and Turkey.
“It’s nearly like a game of telephone, by the time people were hearing things, I think they heard it was an active shooter. that’s when chaos can break out”, Garcetti said on radio station KNX-AM.
The active shooter reports turned out to be false but caused panicked evacuations at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday night, while flights to and from the airport were delayed. Airlines reported two cancelled flights. An individual “in Zorro costume has been detained” by airport police, airport authorities wrote on Twitter.
Officers detained the man and later released him after determining that his sword was plastic, Pedregon said.
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All terminals and roads into the airport had been reopened by 11 p.m. PT, about two hours after the initial reports.
