U.S.

Multiple people stabbed, including officer, at Atlanta airport

Police said a female who was armed with a knife stabbed a man, then a woman, before stabbing an Atlanta police officer.

Atlanta airport security.
(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
SMS

Police in Atlanta said a woman was arrested after stabbing three people, including an officer, at Atlanta's busy international airport. 

On Wednesday night, police said officers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport encountered the woman who was armed with a knife and had already stabbed a man. Police said the suspect began walking towards the airport's south terminal when officers began to talk to her to convince her to drop the weapon. 

Police say as they worked to restrict her movement, the suspect stabbed a woman, then an Atlanta Police lieutenant as he tried to take the suspect into custody. 

Atlanta police said all of the injured were taken to a hospital and reported to be "alert, conscious and breathing." Police said the suspect was not injured, and was taken to a police precinct at Atlanta's airport. 

Police say an investigation was still ongoing by Wednesday night to try and determine a cause for the attack.  

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The woman was reportedly found at the airport, armed with a knife, just before 5 p.m. ET. 

Reports said the woman first stabbed a man in a taxi at the airport's north terminal, WXIA reported. 

Reports said the woman stabbed the Atlanta police officer in the leg as he tried to take her into custody. Officers used pepper spray and tasers to apprehend the suspect. 

Police said the man and woman who were stabbed did not know each other and the attack appeared to be random, but an investigation was still ongoing. 

Hartsfield-Jackson Airport released a statement saying its domestic terminal was cleared Wednesday afternoon, but said "impacts to operations" were "minimal," and said "there is no threat to the public."

In July local reports said a man was found by police in the early morning hours at Atlanta Airport with a stab wound to the chest, and he was rushed to a hospital where he was treated. 

Atlanta's airport regained its title as the world's busiest after travel increased again following the COVID-19 pandemic which hit the travel industry with a major blow in its air travel sector. Nearly 76 million passengers traveled through the international airport in 2021, according to the Airports Council International. 

Data showed the airport retained the title of world's busiest as of April 2023.