Gunshot halts flights at Atlanta airport

Flights out of Atlanta airport were briefly halted after the “accidental discharge” of a gun. With the airport packed with travelers ahead of Thanksgiving, staff assured the public that there was no “active shooter.”

Outbound flights from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were briefly halted on Saturday, after a firearm went off near a security checkpoint. No injuries were reported, and police told reporters that the incident is being investigated.

Video footage shared on social media captured the chaos, with passengers running through crowd-control barriers and lying flat on the ground to protect themselves from what they thought was imminent danger.

The incident caused significant disruption, and led to traffic jams outside the airport. The weekend before Thanksgiving is always one of the busiest weekends in US airports, and this year the American Automobile Association is predicting that 53.4 million people will travel for the holiday – figures nearly on par with pre-pandemic levels.

“There is not an active shooter,” airport staff announced shortly after the discharge. “There was an accidental discharge at the airport. There is no danger to passengers or employees.”

Flights resumed as normal shortly after the incident.

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