Pittsburgh International Airport Security Heightened After Florida Shooting
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The deadly shooting Friday afternoon at the airport in Fort Lauderdale has heightened security at Pittsburgh International and other airports around the country.
One of the most visible signs of that tightened security - Allegheny County Police are now patrolling the airport with rifles.
Bob Kerlik, of the Allegheny County Airport Authority said, "We are monitoring the situation. People will see a stepped up security presence in the terminal. That may be additional county police you may see, along with some other security measures we are taking here."
Southwest Flight 1397, which landed in Pittsburgh around 3:30 p.m. Friday, was one of the last flights, if not the last flight, out of Fort Lauderdale before the airport was shut down because of the attack.
Passenger Robin Simon, of Fox a Chapel, said, "I received a text in mid-flight from friends asking if we flew out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami. That's how I found out about it; it's terrible."
Candice Mellon, who now lives in Fort Lauderdale, is originally from Pittsburgh. Mellon flew into town for Sunday's playoff game at Heinz Field.
She said, "I was starting to get text massages. 'Candice, there's been a shooting, are you ok?' 'Are you on the plane?' 'It's at Terminal Two, you're at Terminal One?'"
Some arriving Southwest passengers in the baggage reclaim area in the Pittsburgh landslide terminal said they realized something was wrong in Fort Lauderdale as their jet was taxiing the runway before takeoff.
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Mary Jean Gavin, of Oil City, flew back to Pittsburgh with her family.
She told KDKA-TV's Ralph Iannotti, "We were leaving and I looked out 'cause my husband and kids were sitting on the other side of the plane and they said, 'Mom, look out.' And I looked out, and I saw like 300, 400 people standing on the tarmac and a bunch of lights and sirens and we got kind of panicky."
A local couple was caught up in the chaos and the terror at the Fort Lauderdale airport, before it was determined the shooter acted alone.
Kelly Angeletti, of Adams Township, and John Evans, of Wexford, had been vacationing in South Florida.
Angeletti was supposed to fly back north Friday, but when she arrived at airport security, she suddenly learned from a TSA agent that their lives were all in danger.
"He literally grabbed my arm, gave me a little shove through the detector, and said, 'Run, there's a shooter,'" she said. "There was a lot of panic and tears and everybody was like, 'Be quiet.'"
While Angeletti hid with a few other people in an employee kitchen, her boyfriend, Evans, who had just dropped her off, was hiding with his 5-year-old granddaughter in an airport garage, as reports of additional shooters kept circulating.
"We talked about moving in between the cars, and we decided it was time and that we had to get down on the ground," he said, "that she had to get underneath the car and be quiet, and stay that way and couldn't ask me if it was time to get out until I told her it was time to get out, and she was a star the entire time."
"What started out as this wonderful trip and how great it is to spend time with family, you just think, please don't let it end this way," Angeletti said.
It was more than four hours before they were finally allowed to leave the airport.