John Wayne Airport went into partial lockdown after a man breached security, California police said.- Officials confirmed via Twitter that a security incident had caused temporary disruption.
- An NBC4 reporter at the scene said officials had tried to negotiate with a man hiding in a ceiling.
Officials confirmed that a security incident took place at
The Orange County Sheriff's Dept said on Twitter that an airport employee found a man on the airfield after he had apparently taken control of a vehicle.
An emergency response was activated and terminal C had been locked down. "The man was later located in the ceiling on the non-secure side of the terminal," the Twitter statement said.
-Robert Kovacik (@RobertNBCLA) August 21, 2021
Robert Kovacik, an NBC4 reporter, was present at the airport during the incident. He tweeted that there was a man was in the ceiling, who officials were trying to negotiate with.
A video posted by Kovacik appeared to show the man being taken into custody after coming down from the ceiling.
Insider reached out to airport officials to confirm the incident but they did not immediately respond.
Although the police statement only mentioned terminal C, NBC4 reported that terminals A and B were also evacuated. The main terminal was unaffected, it said.
-John Wayne Airport (@JohnWayneAir) August 21, 2021
A post from the airport's Twitter account confirmed a security incident at 7:30 p.m. ET, saying more details would follow. Around 8:45 p.m., the account tweeted that the airport had reopened.
An airport spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times that the evacuation was a precautionary measure.