An unidentified person was taken into custody after a disturbance at Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport on Sunday, 14 August 2022.
Chaos at Las Vegas airport: Here’s what we know
According to Fox News, several flights have been grounded at the Harry Reid International Airport in Nevada, Las Vegas.
A loud noise in Terminal 1 around 4:30 caused panic. People believed that they had heard gunshots. An “unruly” individual was said to be the cause of the noise. Officials at the airport called it a “security incident.”
Panicked travellers breached security checkpoints. Consequently, a stampede soon broke out, and false reports of shooting quickly spread. However, reports of the said shooting were “unfounded.”
Las Vegas police took to Twitter to calm alarmed citizens. Police confirmed that the perpetrator is in custody, labelling the person as “unruly.”
Later, a spokesperson for the airport also took to Twitter to announce that it was merely a “false alarm.”
“A loud noise has caused panic at Harry Reid International Airport this morning, and created a security incident,” the airport, in Paradise, Nevada, said. “We appreciate the patience of those traveling today as operations are in the process of returning to normal.”
The airport continued to tweet updates throughout the day. Additionally, the airport said that flight delays were expected to continue. They also urged passengers to check the status of their flights ahead of time.
Harry Reid International Airport is an international airport in Paradise, Nevada. It is the main government airport for public use in the Las Vegas Valley, a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Nevada.
The airport was built in 1942 and opened to airline flights in 1948. It has expanded and employed various innovative technologies, such as common-use facilities. Adding to this, the airport has four runways, two passenger terminals and more than 1200 slot machines. It is named after U.S. Senator Harry Reid, who represented Nevada in the Senate from 1987 to 2017.
The airport was originally named the McCarran International Airport. However, the airport changed its name in December 2021.