The “security incident” that forced a New York-bound flight to make an emergency landing at LaGuardia Airport on Saturday turned out to be a misunderstanding after an airline passenger mistook another traveler’s camera for a bomb, sources said Sunday.
Woman causes emergency landing at LaGuardia Airport after announcing that a passenger was planting a bomb
American Airlines Flight 4817 from Indianapolis, operated by Republic Airways, made an emergency landing at LaGuardia shortly after 3 p.m., and authorities detained a suspicious passenger for several hours.
It turns out that the would-be “terrorist” was nothing more than an antique camera buff, and the woman who reported him was mistaken, according to sources.
So the end of our flight got interesting pic.twitter.com/gdJSUUG906
— Laura (@lbrgdl) October 9, 2021
The woman was traveling with her husband and children, sitting across from her spouse, when she saw another man in her husband’s row looking at videos and photos of antique cameras, sources said.
She thought he was looking for bomb-making instructions, and when the man pulled out his own camera and turned it on, she became convinced he was setting the timer on a detonator, the sources said.
The man was traveling with two checked bags, which were removed from the plane and searched. Among the personal items were a skateboard and antique cameras, the sources said.
Port Authority police and federal agents detained the man for several hours before releasing him, the sources said.
“The JTTF Joint Terrorism Task Force, FBI and Port Authority Police Department determined there was no crime on the part of the passenger and he was released,” Port Authority spokesman Tom Topousis said.
