The above video, posted to Instagram by a witness, appears to capture the sound of gunfire and someone, presumably a police officer, repeatedly shouting “stay down!”
DALLAS, June 10 (UPI) — Gunfire erupted at Dallas Love Field on Friday afternoon and one person was shot after an apparent domestic dispute escalated outside the historic airport, authorities said.
Dallas police said the shooting happened just after 12 p.m. local time after one officer confronted a man attacking a woman in a vehicle close to the airport’s front curb, near Baggage Claim 3. When the man threatened and charged at the officer, he was shot, police said.
“He had a rock,” Asst. Police Chief Randall Blankenbaker said of the suspect, who he described only as an African American. Officials said they did not immediately have the suspect’s identification, but they do not believe he had a firearm. “[The officer] was rushed by the gentleman with the rock.”
Dallas police said it appears the relationship between the suspect and the female victim is that they have children together. Police said the woman was not hurt, and the children were not present at the airport.
A video posted to Instagram by witness Bryan Armstrong reveals the sounds of repeated gunfire and someone, presumably the involved officer, shouting “stay down!” The video also captured travelers’ shocked reactions to the gunfire.
“It was terrifying,” witness Lucinda Fonseca told WFAA-TV.
The unidentified suspect was hospitalized, but his medical condition wasn’t initially disclosed.
Contrary to some news reports, Love Field was not shut down during the shooting, but officials said the confusion of the incident forced airport security officers to re-screen many travelers.
“During the shooting, there was some folks in the security line who were startled and so they went through the security line without being checked, so the airport has had to pull everybody back out of the secure area and recheck them for security purposes,” Blankenbaker said. “The airport has not been shut down.”
The Dallas field office of the FBI responded to the scene Friday afternoon to aid in the investigation, officials said, and the policeman involved in the shooting will be placed on routine paid administrative leave, per the department’s policy.
Love Field is the secondary airport for the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. It is perhaps best known for being the site of President John F. Kennedy‘s arrival immediately prior to his assassination in Dallas in 1963.
After Kennedy’s death, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, also along for the campaigning trip, was famously sworn-in as the 36th president while aboard Air Force One on the airport tarmac.
