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The BBC is reporting:
Unconfirmed reports of gunshots, later described by police as just "loud noises", have sparked evacuations at Los Angeles airport.
People fled the airport on Sunday night amid the shooting reports, with scenes of abandoned luggage on pavements.
Traffic to the terminal was halted and no flights were allowed to land, but operations have now resumed.
LA police tweeted that no shots had been fired and there were no injuries. They are investigating the noises.
Thank you to the submitters who brought this story to our attention.
The L.A. Times says there are unconfirmed reports of shots fired in three terminals at the L.A. airport.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-airport-shooter-20160828-snap-story.html#nt=oft12aH-1li3
Heavy.com reports
no confirmation of shooting can be verified
(Score: 4, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Monday August 29 2016, @05:04PM
So what are people supposed to do when they hear what might be gun fire or reports of gunfire? Stand around and hope for the best?
What does that even mean? That only manly men stand their ground in defiance to what might be a shooting incident?
"Hey Joe, you hear bob got shot dead at that LAX shooting?"
"No, I didn't!"
"Yea someone started shooting and he was shot as he stood there shaking his head in disgust at people fleeing for their lives."
"Tsk. Tsk. People running scared. What has this country come to?"
"Yup. During WW1 my great grandpappy used to take casual strolls through no man's land on the western front."
"When men were men!"
"Damn strait! Now we live in a liberal-hippie-pussy-feminist hell hole."
Seriously, I don't know what the fuck has happened to this nation. We actually have people chastising the idea that we are frightened of the sound of gunfire when that is exactly the proper fucking response to hearing gunfire. Whats next? We complain about those "little girls" running from a fire alarm or burning building? Fuck me.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday August 29 2016, @06:45PM
There was a time, not that long ago when gunshot wasn't the first second or even third guess when someone heard a loud noise. People might actually pause for a moment playing the sound back in their heads trying to figure out what it was. Unless someone saw a gun and yelled "He's got a gun" people who merely heard the noise wouldn't tend to run away panicked yelling "GUN!"
At least not to the degree than a major international airport shuts down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @07:41PM
And there was a time a bit longer ago in the US where it was the first guess: http://mentalfloss.com/article/64247/first-plastic-billiard-balls-routinely-exploded [mentalfloss.com]
In order to secure strength and beauty, only coloring pigments were added, and in the least quantity, consequently a lighted cigar applied would at once result in a serious flame, and occasionally the violent contact of the balls would produce a mild explosion like a percussion guncap. We had a letter from a billiard saloon proprietor in Colorado, mentioning this fact and saying he did not care so much about it, but that instantly every man in the room pulled his gun.
Given that wasn't so long ago, the short period you mentioned could have been anomalous for the USA ;).
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday August 29 2016, @11:59PM
So did they evacuate the saloon? It doesn't sound like it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Monday August 29 2016, @08:04PM
Years back I was driving a GMC 6000 with a 350 gas engine. If you worked the truck hard on a hot day and decided to shut the engine off, it would diesel and back fire. The only way to stop it was to let it idle for a few min to get the temp down or put it in gear and gently let off the clutch while holding the brake and shutting the ignition.
Well I pulled into a gas station to get a snack in East New York, Brooklyn, the ghetto, and just shut the engine down while jumping out of the cab. sputter sputter ...(me: shit! shit!) ... BOOM! Backfire. I jumped back into the cab, got it in gear and dumped the clutch but it was too late. Two people were already running down the block at top speed and others took cover behind their cars. I was both embarrassed and trying hard not to laugh hysterically. I let out a loud "Sorry!" and went into the convenience store to get a bag of chips and two bottles of water. No AC in the cab and it was like 90 out. Ah, memories.
So it depends on the sound and the location. An area with a high propensity for gun violence will be more startled by sounds that mimic gun fire. Likewise, an airport, a frequent target of terrorism, would be just as sensitive to sounds which may or may not be gunfire. Given how bat shit crazy people in this country like to mow down people using guns combined with Terrorism, it's perfectly reasonable for people to start running after hearing sounds that could be an attack. It's not unreasonable or old lady like. It's just a sign of the times.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Osamabobama on Monday August 29 2016, @11:07PM
Around that same time (years back), I was getting ready for a bicycle race and had to change the inner tube in one of my tires. I took it to a gas station to fill it with air because all I had with me was a small pump that would take forever. I guess I didn't have the tire seated properly, with the tube pinched between the rim and the tire bead, so as I filled it the inner tube was able to expand unrestrained through the gap until it failed. That was the first time I heard a 100 psi tire blow out; it was similar to a gunshot. I walked the bike away, resigned to filling the next inner tube via hand pump.
I passed the gas station again several minutes later and saw two police officers looking around. I didn't stop to chat...
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday August 30 2016, @12:11AM
I'm going to need a citation for airports being a frequent target of terrorism. Airplanes, somewhat.
How long did they close that gas station for?
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday August 30 2016, @01:55AM
You're an adult who obviously owns a computer.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday August 30 2016, @02:43AM
Now, how am I to find out how long the gas station was closed? Did it make the news? Can you narrow my search to a year?
As for airport attacks in the U.S., there's the TWA baggage terminal in 1975. Any more? Of course, that was a bomb, not a gun.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday August 30 2016, @02:58AM
Don't be silly. The gas station is an anecdote to illustrate the effect of gun shot like sounds.
Do I really have to do this?
1. There is a whole world outside of the USA. E.g. Brussels and Istanbul.
2. The method of attack matters none.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday August 30 2016, @04:53AM
How many people here in the U.S. panic about an incident that happened in Istanbul?
I give you an airport that sees so much panic about a loud noise they have to evacuate and close it diverting traffic (and it makes the international news) and you come back with a gas station where people are momentarily startled and duck as a precaution.
I'll say that again because it bears repeating. There was a loud noise in an airport and it made the international news!
I'll bet that there have been orders of magnitude more shots fired at gas stations than in airports.
But if we're going to go with anecdotes, when I was in high school in the before time, all the students were waiting for their bus home and one of the buses backfired. There was an uproar of laughter because it blew a perfect smoke ring.
Even as recently as 2011, a gun actually discharged [cbslocal.com] in Hartsfield International and there wasn't an airport closing panic.
At the rate we're going, even sane puppeteers will look bold next to us.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday August 30 2016, @12:15PM
Stop the mental gymnastics. Bottom line is an Airport was evacuated. These are rare events. It was a false alarm because of what sounded like gun shots. Airports in other parts of the world have been attacked and we are all well aware that they are high on the target list for possible terrorist attacks. There have been other high casualty attacks both here and abroad. Airport security is well aware that they are priority targets. They are on edge. What the fuck is so hard to understand about simple facts? Conversation over. It's like I'm arguing with Terri Schiavo.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday August 30 2016, @04:35PM
I don't know what is so hard to understand. Our society is far more fear driven than it was just a couple decades ago, and it is to our detriment. We (as a whole) jump at shadows now, all the time.
The very idea of an airport being evacuated over a loud unidentified noise would have been laughable not that long ago. Two weeks ago, JFK was evacuated because of clapping.
There are no gymnastics there. The next terrorist attack will be some guy with a sack of acorns.
Fear is the mind killer...
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday August 29 2016, @08:20PM
The LAX [wikipedia.org] page explains what happened after a real shooting in the same airport:
Real gunshots == lock down a few terminals
Loud noises == lock down whole airport
Edit: re-reading that, I also see flights were diverted in the original incident.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday August 29 2016, @10:25PM
Pretty much the same thing. I realize its faux pas to admit to this but: better safe than sorry. We are at a point where terrorism and gun violence have become part of our daily news feeds. 20 years ago this shit wasn't on our minds. Now its almost normal to hear of mass shootings and terrorist attacks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @11:21PM
We didn't have daily newsfeeds 20 years ago.
(Score: 3, Touché) by butthurt on Tuesday August 30 2016, @06:25AM
February 13, 19961:00 PM PST
SAN FRANCISCO--PointCast today launched a beta version of a free service that will keep Internet users constantly up-to-date with information from three major news organizations.
--http://www.cnet.com/news/pointcast-unveils-free-news-service/ [cnet.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 30 2016, @06:18AM
The proper response is to return fire.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 30 2016, @12:05PM
Quiet boy.
(Score: 2) by donkeyhotay on Tuesday August 30 2016, @09:32PM
The point is that there were no real gunshots. Someone just REPORTS gunshots, and everyone freaks out.
I don't mind people getting frightened about real gunshots, but it appears that we've gotten to the point where someone can just call in and say, "I heard gunshots" and the entire area is paralyzed.