Toy Gun Forces Airport Lockdown

With the holidays approaching fast, Charlotte's airport was in full swing Tuesday when a security alarm brought everything to a standstill, stranding passengers for hours, CBS News Correspondent Jennifer Jones reports.

Flights were delayed at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and concourses were evacuated for about two hours after an X-ray security screener spotted a toy gun and thought it was real.

As bags rolled through a security checkpoint, the screener spotted what she thought was a weapon.

The security official "thought that he or she observed the image of a weapon in (a) passenger's carry-on bag," said Kathleen Bergen, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta.

But by the time she alerted authorities, the passenger — who apparently was with his family — grabbed the bag and went into the area reserved for people who have cleared security screening.

Airport authorities then locked down all four of the airport's concourses, and forced passengers on departing planes to get off and go through metal detectors again.

After more than two hours, the bag was found. An airport official tells the Charlotte Observer newspaper that it turned up during the re-screening.

He says, "All this was caused by a kid with a toy gun in a bag."

A spokeswoman for US Airways says the lockdown delayed about 50 flights on the ground. The runways looked like parking lots, with planes lined up wing-to-wing.

"All I know is I was on the runway for two hours and 20 minutes," said Debbie Lopez, a passenger.

Flights in the air were allowed to land, but flights to Charlotte that were still on the ground elsewhere were held there.

The evacuation was orderly in spite of the busy pre-holiday crush. "There were a lot of passengers when this occurred," Bergen said.

"Better safe than sorry, that's how I look at it," said passenger Daryl Mitchell.