Australian capital Canberra’s airport has been evacuated after a gunman fired shots in the check-in area of the terminal.
According to media reports, a man has been apprehended by police and a firearm was recovered.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) were doing a security sweep of the airport.
Dan Bourchier, ABC newsreader, tweeted: “AFP is doing a “security sweep” of the airport after we were told the airport has been evacuated.”
ABC reporter Lily Thomson who was at the airport narrated her experience:
“I saw this grandma with a baby and the fear in her face and I knew it was something serious. So we all ran and I stayed with that grandma and her baby and hid behind an information desk. We stayed there for a couple of minutes until security told us to evacuate out to the car park. Everyone was hiding behind chairs and people were running. It was terrifying. We didn’t know what was going on. The look on people’s faces was quite terrifying.”
A number of planes are waiting on the tarmac as passengers wait patiently inside to disembark.
Josh Butler, the political reporter for Guardian Australia, tweeted that four bullet holes can be seen in three large glass windows on the second floor of Canberra airport.
There have been no reports of injuries at this stage. AFP is treating Canberra Airport as a crime scene and has advised members of “the members of the public to not attend the airport at this time.”
