Sydney, Aug 14 (AFP/APP): A gunman fired around five shots inside Canberra’s main airport Sunday, sending passengers fleeing but injuring no one before he was detained by Australian police.
Images posted on social media showed a police officer restraining a man on the ground inside the terminal as the emergency alarm sounded in the capital’s main airport.
Police said the man was taken into custody and was being held at a station in the city. A firearm was recovered, they added.
The gunman entered the airport’s departures area in the early afternoon and sat close to the terminal’s large glass windows, detective acting superintendent Dave Craft told reporters outside the building.
He added that the gunman waited five minutes before pulling out his firearm and “let off approximately five rounds”.
The airport was evacuated and locked down, leading to the suspension of flights.
But normal operations resumed after the airport was re-opened later in the day, though some flights had been cancelled.
Craft said the crime scene indicated that the man had fired shots at the glass windows in the terminal.
No shots were directed at passengers or staff, he said.
Several apparent bullet impacts were visible on the glass front on the second floor of the airport, television images showed.
A woman identified only as Helen was quoted as telling The Guardian newspaper that she saw a man “shooting into the air” not far from the check-in counter, describing him as being middle-aged and “clean cut”.
After examining the airport’s closed-circuit television images, police said they believed the man had acted alone.
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