LAX ‘Prank’ Call & Car Crash Send Passengers Fleeing Terminals

LAX was shrouded in panic on Friday night when a prank phone call reported that a gunman was parading around a terminal, while a woman lost control of her car near another.

The crank caller teased that there was a shooter present at terminal 4, while the automobile crash occurred outside terminal 5 at the Los Angeles International Airport.

The SUV’s crash lead various passengers to flee from the terminal. After the incident individuals inside the terminal admitted that numerous loud banging sounds spooked them, so they then decided to race outside of the airport.

However, there was never actually a threat to LAX. Patrick M. Gannon, the airport police chief, explained, “A driver had a medical emergency, causing her to lose control of the vehicle. She has been transported to a local hospital.”

Almost at the same time as this car crash a phone call was made, which Gannon described as “probably a prank,” declaring that a man with a gun was terrorising terminal 4.

Officers then stormed into the area with their guns drawn, while they then evacuated the terminal too. It’s believed that they screamed “Get down, get down,” to the large crowds as they looked to capture the phantom gunman.

They vigorously searched around the terminal, before finally declaring that it was safe for passengers to continue on their travels.

Gannon added, “We did not find anybody there with a gun. In an overabundance of caution, we evacuated terminal 4. We had great cooperation with our passengers.”

However, these incidents did cause a lot of chaos at LAX, admitted Gannon, “It took us a couple of hours to clear those terminals. It created quite a disturbance at the airport.”

Los Angeles police Sgt. Mark Guardado described the car crash in more detail, revealing that a woman driving on the airport’s arrivals loop lost control of her SUV, because of her medical condition, at around 7:30pm.

She then hit a woman who was walking along an airport sidewalk, before then slamming into a parking garage that is located across from terminal 5.

The reaction to these events is understandable, considering that there was a shooting at LAX three weeks ago. During this rampage, a gunman killed a security officer and injured three others too.

Guardado added, “With what recently just occurred here, everybody’s still a bit on edge.” He confirmed that Friday night’s events around LAX soon dissipated, remarking, “It was determined relatively quickly that there was not a shooting.”