Authorities said that Terminals 1, 2, 3, 5 and the Tom Bradley International Terminal were cleared by Los Angeles Airport Police and passengers were allowed to return.
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There was a severe backlog of traffic coming into LAX after the closure, with as many as 23 flights, including four global, diverted to other airports and at least 68 delayed, according to CNN.
Officers and teams with bomb-detecting K-9s searched the terminal area but found no indication of an active shooter, he said.
“Believing the subject was armed with a sword, several Airport Police officers approached him with weapons drawn out of an abundance of caution”, Los Angeles Airport Police Officer Robert Pedregon said in a written statement.
The incident was similar to one that occurred two weeks earlier in NY, when unconfirmed reports of gunfire at Kennedy International Airport led the police to evacuate two terminals there, causing hysteria among passengers whose fears were exacerbated by unconfirmed reports spread on social media. “Passengers, security people. I heard, “shots fired” or ‘active shooter, ‘ ‘run'”. Both episodes began with reports of what were vaguely described as “loud noises” (in NY, it was rumored to have been cheering over a Usain Bolt victory in the Rio Olympics), which were then somehow taken to be gun shots, setting off a mass exodus of fleeing passengers and airport workers.
Traffic on the upper departure level flowed smoothly during morning rush hour, but cars backed up on the lower arrival level. “Airport Police continues to investigate what caused the incident”.
The only people at the airport with guns Sunday night were officers, but false reports of an active shooter triggered a ripple of chaos that sent frantic travelers racing to the street and onto the tarmac.
United States airport security officials have been on heightened alert in recent months after deadly attacks at worldwide airports in Belgium and Turkey. Police responded to a 911 call of shots fired. “There should be an easing of the situation”.
He said police and airport personnel began yelling at people to get back, while the masked man sat calmly on the bench.
“It was pretty scary”, he told KNX. LAX is the seventh busiest airport worldwide in terms of total traffic.
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In the meantime LAPD confirmed it was a false alarm.
