Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) issued a ground stop Sunday evening, August 28, after an alert about a possible shooter.
Advertisement
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. “Airport Police continues to investigate what caused the incident”.
“It doesn’t take much for people to go into a panic mode and not think”, said Douglas R. Laird, the former director of security for Northwest Airlines and a consultant to airports and airlines. But in another freaky addition to the brouhaha, L.A.’s airport police confirmed that a man dressed in a Zorro costume and carrying a plastic sword was briefly detained (which perhaps is an “only in L.A.” detail that sets the two incidents apart).
Believing the man was armed with a sword, police approached him with weapons drawn “out of an abundance of caution”, according to the airport. “The man was detained, questioned and released”.
CNN’s Paul Vercammen, reporting from the airport, said the man was involved in cosplay, or costume play.
False reports of an active shooter and gunfire inside Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday night sparked pandemonium and caused hundreds of flights to be delayed.
“We are grateful it was not actually an active shooter”, he said.
“Many passengers and employees evacuated onto the airfield and into teh Central Terminal Area roadways”, the statement read.
Later in the evening, authorities prepared to allow passengers who fled from the terminals to re-enter baggage claim areas and gather the luggage they had left behind.
30 minutes in the incident sources tell eTN, it was all about some loud noises. After an investigation, police determined there were no shots fired.
The FAA lifted the ground stop after 30 minutes, around 10 p.m. Sunday (1 a.m. ET Monday), but by that time fights had been diverted.
All terminals resumed operations around 11 p.m.
In the NY incident this month, two people reported hearing what they thought were shots fired, law enforcement sources said then.
He said police and airport personnel began yelling at people to get back, while the masked man sat calmly on the bench. Surveillance video from inside the terminal did not show any shooting.
Los Angeles police spokesman Andy Neiman said a search Sunday through the terminals uncovered no evidence of a gunman or shots fired.
Advertisement
There were no injuries or arrests, although officials said it’s possible that hoax 911 calls and word of mouth led to the panic.
