Police: 5 dead, 8 wounded in shooting at Florida airport

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A gunman opened fire at the Fort Lauderdale airport Friday, killing five people and wounding eight before being taken into custody, officials said. The attack spread panic and sent passengers streaming from the airport.

Authorities gave no details on a possible motive for the shooting inside Terminal 2, which serves Delta Air Lines and Air Canada.

The airport suspended operations as law enforcement authorities rushed to the scene and emergency medical workers treated at least one bleeding victim on the tarmac.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the shooting by his Homeland Security adviser, the White House.

Video posted on Instagram appeared to show several people wounded in the baggage claim area of the terminal. One person appeared to be lying in a pool of blood with a head wound.

Paramedics could be seen treating a bleeding victim outside the airport. Hundreds of people stood on the tarmac as an ambulance drove by.

Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief told CNN authorities that a lone shooter was responsible for the attack and had been taken into custody.

Jillian Saunders, from Palm Beach, Florida, told The Associated Press via Twitter that she was watching the activity on the tarmac from a plane scheduled to fly to Los Angeles.

“Everything you see on the news is happening outside my window,” she said. “I am luckily on the plane and they said we are right now the safest people at the airport.”

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Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro and Adriana Gomez-Licon in Miami contributed to this report.

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