A man has been arrested after shots were fired in the check-in area of Canberra Airport in Australia.
The airport was evacuated and planes were grounded for about three hours on Sunday afternoon as police recovered the firearm and checked the area.
There were no injuries reported but footage from the scene showed bullet holes in the terminal’s glass panes.
Police said the man arrested is “believed to be the only person responsible”, although his motivation is unclear.
ACT Policing Detective Acting Superintendent Dave Craft said the suspect had been sitting near the glass windows of the departures check-in area.
“After approximately five minutes this male has removed the firearm from his possession and let off approximately five rounds,” he said.
“From what I can see from the crime scene, the male has let the shots off at the glass within the terminal.
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“There were no shots directed at people… customers or staff.”
‘The look on people’s faces was quite terrifying’
Lily Thomson, a reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corp, was at the airport and heard the shots, realising something was wrong when people started screaming “run”.
“I saw this grandma with a baby and the fear in her face and I knew it was something serious,” she said.
“So we all ran and I stayed with that grandma and her baby and hid behind an information desk. We stayed there for a couple of minutes until security told us to evacuate out to the car park.
“Everyone was hiding behind chairs and people were running.
“It was terrifying. We didn’t know what was going on. The look on people’s faces was quite terrifying.”
