A gunman opened fire on passengers at Fort Lauderdale Airport in Florida on Friday, killing five and leaving eight others injured.
Witnesses said everyone started running as the attacker opened fire in the baggage claim area.
The area is home to departures and arrivals for Delta and Air Canada, according to the airport.
Reports have since emerged of a second shooting at the airport’s rental car return facility.
Plane passengers were evacuated onto the tarmac after the incident, which occurred in the airport’s Terminal 2.
“I was dodging bullets and trying to help people get out of the way,” said a witness from Minneapolis.
“At first we thought it was firecrackers. Everyone started screaming and running.”
The suspected shooter is in custody, according to a spokeswoman for the Broward county sheriff’s department, which was on scene at the airport.
Authorities said they first received a call about shots fired just before 1 pm.
The sheriff’s office also said that eight people had been injured and taken to an area hospital, but a spokeswoman said she did not know if all of these people were wounded by gunfire.
A local mayor told CNN that the injury toll was up to 13 later on Friday afternoon.
Shortly before 3 pm, police said they were searching the airport following “unconfirmed reports” of additional gunfire somewhere at the facility.
All flights were suspended in the wake of the shooting, and the airport was closed, airport officials said.
The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport posted on Twitter about “an ongoing incident” at the baggage claims in one of the terminals, but did not provide further information.
The identity of the attacker has not been revealed, but the Islamic State (IS), which has carried out similar attacks in different countries, has threatened to hit the US.
Related Posts:
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.
