Terminals at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) were evacuated briefly and 27 flights were diverted on Sunday night after reports of gunfire that police later determined were incorrect, in the second recent false alarm at a major U.S. airport.
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However, “during the incident”, they did manage to detain a man dressed as Zorro armed with a plastic sword, although airport officials have yet to clarify whether the masked man was in any way connected with the evacuation.
The incident sent thousands of passengers streaming on to the tarmac and out of the airport.
Maggard said it has not been determined whether someone intentionally made the false report to test airport security.
Airport police say false reports of an active shooter quickly spread, and passengers in five terminals evacuated or pushed through security checkpoints.
“When you don’t have security, don’t be surprised that somebody can drive you insane with a false alarm”, Yeffet said. Two flights were canceled.
There were major delays in flights. Concessions stayed open past closing time to serve passengers on delayed or diverted flights.
Vehicle traffic was flowing again on the upper departure level during Monday morning rush hour, but cars backed up on the lower arrival area, Castles said.
The man stated he was on the phone calling for transportation from the airport when police told him to get on the ground. No shooter was found. No actual shooting occurred there either. “We will continue to investigate throughout the day”.
Surveillance video reviews supported the police’s confirmation on the absence of active gunfire, contrary to the reports. The reports were spurred by loud noises only, and police were still investigating their source.
A ground stop was ordered at the airport just after 9 p.m. local time.
Investigators are attempting to determine what prompted the first of several emergency calls Sunday night that falsely reported a gunman at Los Angeles International Airport.
Officers with rifles stormed terminals but uncovered no evidence of a gunman or shots fired Sunday.
As a further precaution, flight operations were stopped from 9 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. The panic started soon afterward, he said. “There should be an easing of the situation”.
The flight is scheduled to arrive later today in Nadi.
“What happened was that somebody called and said there’s a man in dark clothing out here and they got scared I guess”.
“It was pretty scary”, he told KNX.
Roads into the airport were only slowly starting to be reopened, and flights were only slowly resuming again, with massive backup expected for both, officials said.
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Airport spokeswoman Mary Grady said it would take much of the night to bring traffic and pedestrian patterns back to normal. “There are false alarms”.
