Three people were shot and one was stabbed at a restaurant at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in what authorities believe was a dispute between family members.
Phoenix Police Department spokeswoman Myra Leeson said in a news conference that the incident occurred on Christmas Day at a restaurant outside a security checkpoint. A man and a girl were taken into custody, police said in a news release. The man was hospitalized with what authorities believe was a stab wound.
Leeson told reporters that airport police received a report of a shooting around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday and found three people with gunshot wounds in a restaurant in Terminal 4.
According to police, officers made contact with a man and a girl who had been stabbed in the parking lot.
Leeson said all five people involved in the incident “know each other.”
“I believe this was an escalation of a family dispute,” she said.
Leeson said the woman was taken to hospital in critical condition, adding that her wounds were life-threatening. Two men were placed on the stable list, as was the man who was stabbed, Leeson said.
In an unrelated incident on Christmas Day, a man was arrested at the airport and charged with arriving with a firearm.
“This man received a text message saying he believed there was a shooter in Sky Harbor,” Leeson said. “This man was not an active shooter. That was never the case, and he arrived at the airport with a firearm. … He is in custody. He has been charged with several charges. It will be.”
The man also got into an altercation with police officers, Leeson said.
Airport operations were temporarily suspended but quickly resumed. Phoenix police did not immediately respond to requests for comment on either incident Thursday.
