Florida man allegedly told BWI employee he had explosive device, sparking evacuation
A 58-year-old Florida man was arrested for allegedly telling a BWI Thurgood-Marshall Airport employee that he had an explosive device in his bag, which elicited an evacuation of hundreds of travelers on Wednesday, according to Maryland Transportation Authority Police.
Airport officials said a law enforcement investigation forced travelers to evacuate from Concourse A around 6 p.m. About 30 minutes later, officials determined there was no threat and gave the all-clear for passengers to resume their destinations.
WJZ was at the airport, where people were packed into the food court area between the concourses.
Travelers left confused
WJZ spoke with a traveler who was getting ready to board his plane before being told to evacuate.
He was left confused about what was happening.
"I don't understand what it means. People are upset. People are furious," said traveler Demarco Monroe.
Monroe said chaos followed, and everyone in the concourse was told to leave.
"All of a sudden, we get an announcement from the gate agent that everyone needed to evacuate to the food court immediately," Monroe said. "She legitimately started going, 10, 9, 8, 7, at that point, everyone kind of freaked out."
Passengers told WJZ they weren't given any information and that the evacuation caused some travel disruptions.
Travelers also said they nearly had to go through the security checkpoint a second time.
"The gate agents at one time told us we all had to leave to go through security again," Monroe said. "So everyone got really upset and anxious about that. But then another gate agent came out and said that we didn't have to."
