#Gunman #arrested #firing #shots #Canberra #airport
A gunman fired about five shots at Canberra’s main airport on Sunday, sending passengers fleeing but injuring no one before being arrested by Australian police.
Pictures posted to social media showed a police officer pinning a man to the ground in the terminal as the emergency call went out at the capital’s main airport.
Police said the man was arrested and held at a police station in the city. A firearm was seized, they added.
The gunman entered the airport’s departures area in the early afternoon and was seated near the terminal’s large glass windows, Acting CID Superintendent Dave Craft told reporters outside the building.
He added that the shooter waited five minutes before pulling out his firearm and “firing about five rounds.”
The airport was evacuated and closed, resulting in the suspension of flights
However, normal operations resumed after the airport reopened later in the day, despite the cancellation of some flights.
Craft said the crime scene suggested the man fired at the glass windows in the terminal.
No shots were aimed at passengers or staff, he said.
Several apparent bullet impacts could be seen on the glass frontage on the second floor of the airport, TV images showed.
A woman, identified only as Helen, was quoted as telling The Guardian newspaper she saw a man “shooting in the air” not far from the check-in desk, and described him as middle-aged and “clean cut”.
After examining airport security cameras, police said they believe the man acted alone.
– ‘We all ran’ –
The situation is now “contained”, the police said and described the airport as an “active crime scene”.
The motive behind the shooting was not immediately clear, police said.
A journalist with Australia’s public broadcaster ABC, Lily Thomson, said she heard the gunshots before people started shouting.
She saw a frightened woman taking care of a baby.
“So we all ran away and I stayed with this grandma and her baby and hid behind an information desk,” Thomson reported on ABC.
“We stayed there for a few minutes until security told us to evacuate to the parking lot,” she added.
“Everyone hid behind chairs and people ran.”
Another passenger, Alison, who gave only her first name, told the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age newspapers that she saw the gunman.
“We were safe and heard the first shots. I turned around and there was a man with a gun, like a small one, looking at the car drop-off,” she said.
“Someone yelled, come down, come down and we just ran out of there.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been briefed on the shooting.
“I have been informed that a man has been arrested and there is no ongoing threat,” the prime minister said in a statement.
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