hartsfield jackson international airport just a short time ago. a gunshot was actually heard inside the building there, which caused a heck of a lot of panic, to say the least. travelers scrambling for safety, the faa stopping all planes from coming in or out. an investigation is currently under way. the airport was quick to tweet, of course, the incident was just an accidental discharge. no one was actually in danger. but nonetheless, this is certainly having a ripple effect not only in the atlanta area but across the country, and really globally. you think about atlanta hartsfield international airport, you got airlines coming in from overseas along with connecting flights as well. it is a delta hub. and of course, a major travel weekend ahead of the thanksgiving holiday, so it seems as if there is going to be somewhat of a domino effect of events happening here as we re continuing to cover this breaking news situation from atlanta hartsfield international airport. with that, i want
the airport. once a passenger runs away with a gun, that becomes a law enforcement issue, not a tsa issue. they are not law enforcement officers. got it. one other thing to consider, yasmin, is that you may know this from living in atlanta, georgia is an open carry state, which means people are allowed to walk around with if they have permits, with weapons. and this is something that jim cavanaugh can probably weigh in on better than i can, but there are a number of states around the country where you re allowed to you re legally allowed to carry a weapon. now, the tsa this year has found a record number of guns. most of the time it s unintentional. it was in a bag. they didn t realize it. they bring it to the checkpoint and in states like georgia, they are detained briefly and then they re told to take the gun and put it back in their car or to take it home. also, i m hearing from sources
we d come from out the staircase, if we were going to get shot. this was literally nervewracking, as you can imagine, and finally, another tsa agent came and escorted us outside but then we got outside and then folks were saying, the shooter s outside, so they told us to rush back inside. and it was just absolute chaos. you see things like this happen on tv and you hear things like this happening, but being right in the middle of it and involved in it is one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. what do you make of 30 minutes later, the airport sending out a statement saying it was an accidental discharge? that makes no sense to me. why? absolutely no sense to me. i have no idea how it can accidentally discharge. i know how that happens at an airport. i don t know. i think it s just poor narrative. i think it s, you know, it s absolutely not true from my perspective and any others that were there. i don t know how they got that, and they really need to clear that up an
a passenger with an accidental discharge whose bag was being searched as he sat there and then the passenger subsequently fled. and yet, the airport is assured, putting out a tweet that this is an accidental discharge and this passenger is not in their custody at the very moment. yes, that s right, yasmin, and my question also would be, where s the gun? is the passenger gone and the gun was left at the checkpoint? it sounds like that must be the case. because otherwise, i think there would be much more security posture going on here if the person was loose in the terminal with a gun. and it does beg the question, why, if you had an accidental discharge, would you not stay there with the security tsa agent and, you know, rectify it? say, i m sorry. why would you run away? now, person could have been ushered out with the crowd, you know, everybody get out or something. i guess it s possible.
welcome back, everybody. so, we are following the breaking news from atlanta hartsfield international airport, shots ringing out or a shot ringing out around 1:30 this afternoon. we were being told around 2:00 by atlanta airport that it was an accident accidental discharge. an individual brought a loaded firearm in their carry-on to the airport. that carry-on subsequently was being searched by tsa where they discovered the firearm. the individual reached for the firearm and that s when the shot rang out. that individual then fled the airport and they are still searching for them. the airport then given an all-clear about 25 minutes or so ago. but you imagine how terrifying it must have been in those moments. and i want to bring in damian escobar, who experienced it and