Just like yelling fire in a crowded theater…
Via Fox:
Terminal A was evacuated at Newark Liberty International Airport Monday evening after a panicked airline worker apparently screamed “evacuate” and some passengers thought there was an active shooter at the airport.
The worker also hit an alarm that sounded across the entire terminal, leaving passengers trying to figure out what was going on.
Passengers left bags behind and ran for exits as police rushed into the terminal. Around 200 people ended up pouring out of Gate 37 onto the tarmac.
Sports writer David Lombardi was in the terminal at the time.
He tweeted that it was an “insane situation” and that the airport was in a state of “confusion and chaos” as events unfolded.
Lombardi later tweeted that apparently an Alaska Airlines employee saw two men she deemed suspicious and made a scene about it. He said her coworkers didn’t deem the men suspicious and the employee “began to have a breakdown.”
A Port Authority spokesperson said it was unclear why the flight attendant tried to question the two men who were regular, ticketed passengers. The worker was somehow spooked, started yelling for people to evacuate, and hit the alarm.
About an hour later the airport tweeted out that it was determined that there was no threat in the terminal. All passengers and employees were being re-screened as a precaution, causing further delays at the airport.
The airline says the men that caused the airline worker to panic were located and questioned and were determined to just be “minding their own business.”