The central terminal area at Los Angeles International Airport was closed for more than 90 minutes Sunday night after “loud noises” let to reports of an active shooter.
(FOX)- Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Andy Neiman confirmed shortly before 10 p.m. that no shooter had been found. Airport police said a man in a Zorro costume had been detained, but it was not clear whether he had any connection to the alert.
All terminals and roads into the airport had been reopened by 11 p.m. PDT, about two hours after the initial reports, officials said. But massive backup faced travelers in their cars and in security lines. Passengers who fled had to be rescreened through security.
When the incident began, scores of people could be seen running from the terminal out on to the sidewalks and streets as police with rifles out stormed terminals. Many other evacuees were standing on the airport tarmac, and abandoned bags littered some sidewalks.
“NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt was arriving in Los Angeles on a red-eye flight when the panic started.
Anne Dudek of Santa Monica, Calif., told the Los Angeles Times that she was going down the escalator to baggage claim in Terminal 7 when a man ran past her and warned everyone to run because people were being shot.
“People started dropping bags and running out of the terminal,” she said. “Panic spread.”
“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. “One man was frantic saying there was a shooter.”
Police officers, including one with a shotgun, eventually led passengers out of the terminal, through a security gate, and into a parking lot — where several hundred waited for the terminal to reopen. Ninety minutes after the scare, Landis said he was still waiting for word on his flight.