A shooting at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston produced tense scenes for travelers and a closure of one of the airportâs terminals on Thursday afternoon. One person was said to be shot and facing life-threatening injuries.
The Houston Police Department used its Facebook page to provide some details about the incident:
About 1:35 p.m. today, a report of shots fired at Bush Intercontinental Airport was received by HPD at Terminal B. A lone armed male has suffered at least one gunshot wound and has been transported to an area hospital with life threatening injuries. There are no other reports of injuries nor other persons involved. Further information will be posted as it is confirmed.
A subsequent comment from the police department added that the man âwas near a ticket counter, pre-screeningâ when the shooting occurred.
Some travelers at the airport share their experiences on Twitter of the moment when the shooting occurred.
Rebecca McCormick, a traveler at the airport who described herself as a syndicated journalist on her Twitter profile, also interviewed some witnesses in Houston who heard the shooting and described what they saw:
.nytVideo, .nytVideo video, .youtubeVideo, .youtubeVideo iframe { background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #000000; } .youtubeVideo { position: relative; } .youtubeVideo, .youtubeVideo .thumb { height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%; } .youtubeVideo iframe { height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0; width: 100%; z-index: 1; } .youtubeVideo .playButton { border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 10px; height: 46px; left: 50%; margin: -23px 0 0 -35px; position: absolute; top: 50%; width: 70px; z-index: 2; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(90deg, #6e0610, #ff0000); /* Safari 5.1+, Mobile Safari, Chrome 10+ */ background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(90deg, #6e0610, #ff0000); /* Firefox 3.6+ */ background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(90deg, #6e0610, #ff0000); /* IE 10+ */ background-image: -o-linear-gradient(90deg, #6e0610, #ff0000); /* Opera 11.10+ */ } .youtubeVideo .thumb { overflow: hidden; width: 100%; } .youtubeVideo .thumb img { height: auto; width: 100%; } .youtubeVideo:hover .thumb { cursor: pointer; } .youtubeVideo:hover .playButton { } .youtubeVideo .playButton .arrow { border-bottom: 10px solid transparent; border-left: 20px solid #FFFFFF; border-top: 10px solid transparent; height: 0; left: 28px; position: absolute; top: 13px; width: 0; } .clearfix:after { clear: both; content: "."; display: block; height: 0; visibility: hidden; }
The shooting incident prompted the airport to announce the indefinite closure of its Terminal B:
While no motive or chain of events leading to the shooting was offered by authorities, a news organization noted that the National Rifle Association will begin its three-day national convention in Houston on Friday.