The alert came two months after police temporarily evacuated a terminal at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport while they investigated reports of gunfire there, also later determined to be false.
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In one of the clips a man could be heard asking ‘why are we running?’ and another passenger replied ‘security said to run’.
Officials have not confirmed if there have been any shots fired, or any injuries.
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. The investigation continues for locating the source of these noises, wrote on his Twitter account a spokesman of the Californian metropolis police, Andy Neiman.
The FAA lifted the ground stop around 1 a.m. Monday, but by that time fights had been diverted.
The airport was on lockdown for a while after passengers on board a domestic flight ran in a state of fear when they heard a loud noise, believing it to be someone with a gun. Two flights were cancelled, she said.
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.
Reports of a shooter made passengers panic, but no shooter was found. The man was released.
The shooting scare on Sunday night, which marked the worst security disruption in almost three years at the second-busiest US airport, began with police receiving a call reporting gunshots fired at a United Airlines gate inside Terminal 8, police said.
There were major delays in flights.
Callers reported hearing gunfire not just in Terminal 8, but in other areas at the airport. Concessions stayed open past closing time to serve passengers on delayed or diverted flights.
It marked the second time in two weeks that false reports of a gunman ended up shutting down a major USA airport – check out what happened at JFK – with people on the scene fueling further chaos by tweeting false information.
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.
A search uncovered no evidence of a gunman or shots fired.
Traffic became congested around the Central Terminal Area as police closed roads.
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The Los Angeles airport, known as LAX, is the seventh busiest airport worldwide in terms of traffic.
