A series of dramatic videos have emerged from the Orlando International Airport that showed police crisis negotiators talking with an armed suspect. You can watch them above and below in this article.
“UPDATE: Armed suspect is contained but not in custody. Suspect is speaking with a crisis negotiator. Please report only confirmed info,” Orlando Police reported on Twitter around 9:30 p.m. EST. However, a short time later, police reported that the gunman was in custody.
“Gunman in custody. Everyone is safe. We will brief ASAP at media briefing location,” Orlando police wrote.
UPDATE: Gunman is in custody. Everyone is safe. Will brief as soon as possible in the media staging area.
In one video (above), you can hear a man crying as other men shout and talk back to him. Here’s another vantage point (despite some of the captions on the videos, there are no confirmed reports that a hostage was ever taken):
“Put it down. Please sir, please. You’ve got a lot of life left,” a man yells. No shots were fired during the incident, The Orlando Sentinel reported. In one of the videos, police shout that the man needed to go to a hospital.
Police confirmed on social media that there was a man with a weapon, but they also said there was not an active shooter at the airport, and no one was injured. The videos posted to social media by civilians on May 30 bear this out; it’s clear there was a tense standoff unfolding in the airport, but police had the gunman cornered. There were no reports of injuries.
“Incident ongoing involving man w/ weapon in terminal – Level 1 A-side, rental car area. Police on scene, area contained. Min impact to ops,” the Orlando International Airport tweeted around 8:20 p.m. EST. As of 8:30 p.m. EST, tweeted the Florida Highway Patrol, “ALL ROADS LEADING TO ORLANDO AIRPORT ARE SHUTDOWN….. ZERO EXCEPTIONS.”
The videos appear to be shot with different cell phone cameras from behind a counter as the police negotiation with an armed suspect took place a short distance away.
Video was also posted to YouTube that appeared to show the scene as officers moved cautiously down an airport hallway.
A Fox reporter posted one of the videos (below) and wrote, “Tense moments @ #orlando airport (#MCO) police trying to get an armed man to drop his weapon. Vd from witness inside.”
A woman shared a video on Twitter and said it was from her sister, who was inside the airport.
Other citizen videos showed a massive law enforcement response to the scene.
t.co/mG6nn8f8uo. Orlando. Airport.
You can read more about the incident here:
