--- description: About 20 people fled onto the tarmac after a mistaken announcement over the loudspeaker in Terminal 2 warned of a man with a gun title: False Alarm Sends Panicked Passengers Onto LAX Tarmac image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # False Alarm Sends Panicked Passengers Onto LAX Tarmac  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 16, 2015 10:27 PM CUT  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 16, 2015 10:27 PM CUT About 20 people fled onto the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday after [an announcement](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/passengers-panic-unsubstantiated-la-airport-gun-scare-29003214 "undefined") mistakenly warned of a gunman on the loose. The false alarm appeared to be linked to an incident outside Terminal 2, where police responding to a possible suicide attempt detained an unarmed man, according to the Associated Press. LAX Police Sgt. Belinda Joseph said he was apprehended and taken to a hospital, but “someone said that there was a man with a gun, which was not true.” Passengers waiting to board exited the terminal onto the tarmac through emergency doors, but police say they remained “under observation” while near the planes. The incident was over in about 15 minutes. \[[_AP_](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/passengers-panic-unsubstantiated-la-airport-gun-scare-29003214 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3711355/los-angeles-airport-false-alarm/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3711355/los-angeles-airport-false-alarm/"},"headline":"False Alarm Sends Panicked Passengers Onto LAX Tarmac","datePublished":"2015-02-16T22:27:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:27:45.269Z","description":"It's not clear how the rumor ended up on the public address system","url":"https://time.com/3711355/los-angeles-airport-false-alarm/","keywords":["Transportation","Travel","LAX"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3711355/los-angeles-airport-false-alarm/","name":"False Alarm Sends Panicked Passengers Onto LAX Tarmac"}}]}] ```