PHOENIX (AP) – Authorities are investigating a Christmas Day shooting at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport that left three people injured and another stabbed. Police said the incident was related to a family dispute.
According to Phoenix police, the shooting occurred around 9:45 p.m. at an airport restaurant outside the security checkpoint in Terminal 4.
An adult woman and two adult men were shot, and the woman suffered life-threatening injuries that police said were life-threatening. Police said the two men are in stable condition and are expected to survive. A man who was hospitalized with at least one stab wound is in stable condition.
Police said all the people in the group knew each other and there was a physical altercation during which one of the men pulled out a gun.
“We believe this was an escalation of a family dispute,” Phoenix Police Sgt. Myra Leeson told reporters.
A man and a girl were taken into custody in a nearby airport parking lot after the shooting. Police did not immediately release information about possible charges. They are still investigating why the group was at the airport, whether they were traveling or for some other reason.
The shooting led to the temporary closure of the terminal’s security checkpoint, the closure of some restaurants and the suspension of service at the terminal’s PHX SkyTrain station.
“Of course it was scary. It was Christmas night and everyone was trying to get home,” Leeson said.
In what Leeson described as a “totally unrelated” incident after the shooting and stabbing, a man showed up at the airport late Wednesday night with a gun.
“This man received a text message saying he believed there was a shooter in Sky Harbor, Leeson said.
The man then got into an argument with police officers and was arrested at the airport. Leeson said he will be sentenced to prison. Information about his charges was not immediately available.
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Associated Press staff writer Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.
