At Dallas Love Field, a woman opened fire and was shot and arrested.
Authorities say a 37-year-old woman was arrested on Monday after she opened fire on a police officer at Dallas Love Field Airport before being shot and wounded.
Police said no other people were hurt, but the gunshot drove others running for shelter and caused several planes to be delayed.
Police Chief Eddie Garcia of the Dallas Police Department revealed on Monday that the woman had been dropped off at the airport just before 11 a.m. and appeared to have changed her clothes in the restroom before emerging and opening fire inside the airport.
Her lower limbs were shot by a Dallas police officer, and she was apprehended and transferred to a nearby hospital, Chief Garcia said. On Monday afternoon, it remained unclear what had happened to her.
When she fired, the woman had no idea who or what she was shooting at. After she opened fire, the officer fired six shots at her, according to Chief Garcia.
Later, police identified the lady as Portia Odufuwa and said she fired several shots at a ticket counter section of the airport, according to a subsequent report.
During the month of April of 2021, Ms. Odufuwa was accused of reporting a fire in Dallas County that never happened. According to court documents, in June of that year, a judge concluded that she was unable to communicate with her lawyer and was therefore unable to face trial, but she was not deemed a danger to the public.
Odufuwa was ordered to attend “psychosocial counseling” and live in lodgings provided by a healthcare provider by the judge.
Earlier this month, a grocery store in New York, an elementary school in Texas, and a Fourth of July festival in Illinois were all targeted for gunshots.
An airport employee who has worked at the airport since 2020 claims to have seen people sprinting through the terminal.
In the thick of a disaster, “we have drills on evacuation and where we’re meant to travel to, but that’s all gone,” Ms. Darnell added.
In stores and restaurants, people scurried to find cover in kitchens and behind furniture. In the terminal, when Joe Castronovo III stepped off the Jetway after arriving from Orlando, Fla., he “saw people rushing” as they sought shelter.
As the chaos unfolded, Joe Castronovo Jr., the father of Mr. Castronovo, arrived at the terminal to pick up his son.
Upon arriving to the scene, Mr. Castronovo, of Highland Park, Texas, spotted a woman yelling and fleeing the building. What happened next terrified us to death. ” People were being urged to flee the area by workers.
The shooting at Dallas Love Field Airport sent travelers scrambling for cover and delayed several flights.
The shooting at Dallas Love Field Airport sent travelers scrambling for cover and delayed several flights.
Credit…
New York Times photographer Cooper Neill
Rockwall, Texas, police chief Max Geron tweeted that he had to be evacuated from Love Field “following an apparent gunfire.”
He said, “Family is safe.” As a whole, “TSA did a fantastic job.”
From 2000 through 2021, there were at least 433 active shooter attacks in the United States. Of these, only one-third involved a police officer shooting or physically subduing the gunman.
The Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, stated on Twitter that his administration was keeping a close eye on things.
Mr. Buttigieg expressed his gratitude to the first responders on the scene for their efforts in ensuring the safety of tourists.
In a statement, TSA spokeswoman Patricia Mancha stated that the agency was working to get people through screening following the shooting but did not have an estimate for how long it would take. After the incident at Love Field, FlightAware, a flight-tracking service, reported that more than 60 planes were delayed.
As a result of the incident, Love Field Airport issued an evacuation and shelter-in-place order, according to a statement.
The airport initially reported on Twitter that it had halted flight operations while the Dallas Police Department investigated, but it subsequently said that operations had resumed. Passengers were still urged to contact their airlines for flight information by the airport.