Terminals at Los Angeles International Airport were evacuated briefly late on Sunday, Aug. 28, after reports of gunfire that police later determined were incorrect, in the second recent false alarm at a major USA airport.
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Terminals at Los Angeles International Airport were evacuated briefly before police determined that reports of gunfire were “false alarm” at the United States airport.
The incident was similar to one that happened a couple weeks ago at Kennedy International Airport in NY, when police evacuated two terminals because of reports of gunfire.
The whole saga created quite a mess for the airport and those flying, as all passengers who had fled their terminal had to get back in line to go through security once again.
A police officer stands guard at Los Angeles International Airport Sunday after reports of an alleged gunman.
Authorities said Los Angeles police had cleared all terminals by 10:45 p.m.
Meanwhile, passengers were not allowed to re-enter Terminals 4, 6, 7 and 8 because they were still being screened Sunday night by explosives-detecting K-9 units. The ground stop lasted 30 minutes and was lifted at 1 a.m. ET.
It was unclear if the Zorro incident directly led to the shots fired calls, but Airport Police were still investigating the events.
“I’m sitting down, on the phone, I get police all around me, I’m not even thinking about what’s going on, or what I’m wearing”, Zorro said. He said a man nearby dressed in a Zorro outfit was temporarily handcuffed by officers.
McClain told the station some people inside the airport heard loud noises they knew weren’t gunshots but said it was possible the noises induced some other people to call 911.
Video showed people sprinting out of the airport terminals.
Latest tweets say police officers saying they can not find any significant incident. Airlines reported just two flights canceled.
The airport said it halted incoming traffic on the south runway complex shortly after 9 p.m. and that arrivals were cleared roughly a half-hour later.
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Security officers ordered some people to lie on hallway floors as police searched terminals. The rumors of a shooter in LAX made people self-evacuate the airport onto the tarmac, rushing through federal security screening without being properly screened, said LAX in a statement.
