Airport police Officer Rob Pedregon said the initial emergency call came in Terminal 8 around 8:45 p.m. Sunday.
Advertisement
As a further precaution, flight operations were stopped from 9 p.m.to 9:30 p.m. on the airport’s two southern runways because passengers, who self-evacuated from the terminals, ran onto the restricted airfield. “No shots fired. No injuries”.
United States airport security officials have been on heightened alert in recent months after deadly attacks at global airports in Belgium and Turkey. Loud noises spurred the reports, and police were still investigating their source, Los Angeles police spokesman Andy Neiman said.
Leyna Nguyen, an anchor for KCAL whose flight happened to arrive just before the panic began, said even false reports “create such a chaotic scene, it’s really scary”.
According to LAX Public Relations Director Nancy Castles, 281 flights were delayed – 120 arrivals and 161 departures.
Isaac Yeffet, former head of security for El Al Israel Airlines who runs his own firm, Yeffet Security Consultants, said the root of the problem is weak airport security in the U.S. He cited a 2015 inspector general report from the Homeland Security Department that found in 67 out of 70 tests across the nation, TSA screeners failed to find mock weapons and explosives.
A police officer stands guard as passengers wait in line at Terminal 7 in Los Angeles International Airport, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016.
However an individual “in Zorro costume has been detained” by airport police, airport authorities wrote on Twitter.
The man was detained, questioned and released, the LAWA statement said.
In a unusual twist, multiple police officers were captured in video footage aggressively arresting a man who appeared to be dressed in a Zorro costume with their guns drawn.
The airport said Terminals 1, 4, 6, 7 and 8 were affected, and video showed people sprinting down hallways and out of terminals.
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.
The news of possible gunshots prompted some people to rush out the wrong security doors, setting off alarms that added to the sense of danger, LAX police union head Marshall McClain said on KNX 1070 Newsradio.
Advertisement
Passenger Scott McDonald said he was getting off a plane in the middle of the incident and was told by the crew to get back on. Looking out the window, he said he could see many evacuees gathered on the tarmac, a odd sight even for someone who travels constantly.
