Police say no gunman has been found and no shots were fired at Los Angeles International Airport after reports of an active shooter brought a scare to hundreds of travelers. About 280 flights were delayed, at least 27 planes diverted and two flights canceled, airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles said.
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According to LAX operator Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), approximately 281 flights were delayed. The initial 911 call came in Terminal 8 around 8:45 p.m. – about five minutes after officers detained the man dressed as Zorro.
Directly following that incident, reports spread of an active shooter in Terminal 8.
Latest tweets say police officers saying they can not find any significant incident.
Airport police say they are searching all terminals, but there is no confirmation of any shootings or injuries.
In that incident, police were investigating whether an overly boisterous celebration of the Olympics on August 14 led to noises that were misinterpreted as gunfire, with the ensuing chain reaction turning into a panic as crowds ran to evacuate.
It has happened three times at major airports this summer, the latest at Los Angeles International on Sunday, when rumors of gunfire sent thousands of people fleeing from terminals and onto airfields and roads, forcing authorities to stop flights and send all travelers back through security checkpoints.
Police said the chaos was caused by what they described as “loud noises”, mistaken by passengers as gun shots.
The incident stirred chaos as hundreds of people rushed from terminals on to sidewalks or the tarmac. It suggested passengers coming from other cities check with the departure airports.
We were on the jetway and someone starts pushing behind us, Jon Landis, a sales representative from Boston who was boarding a flight home, told The Associated Press.
Sometimes dealing with a false threat and panic can be more hard for security officials at a major airport than finding a real “active shooter”, according to experts. “One man was frantic, saying there was a shooter”.
The news of possible gunshots prompted some people to rush out the wrong security doors, setting off alarms that added to the sense of danger, LAX police union head Marshall McClain told KNX 1070 Newsradio.
LAX was the scene of a real shooting in 2013 when a man opened fire a terminal al building killing a TSA agent and injuring three others.
Isaac Yeffet, former head of security for El Al Israel Airlines who runs his own firm, Yeffet Security Consultants, said the root of the problem is weak airport security in the U.S. He cited a 2015 inspector general report from the Homeland Security Department that found in 67 out of 70 tests across the nation, TSA screeners failed to find mock weapons and explosives.
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