COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A man killed by police outside a terminal at the Columbus, Ohio, airport lunged at an officer with a knife, police said.
The man had just attempted to buy a plane ticket at Port Columbus International Airport using identification belonging to a woman, Sgt. Rich Weiner, a Port Columbus Police spokesman said. He then walked out of the terminal, trailed by security officers.
The confrontation began outside, where police had responded to an illegally parked GMC Suburban. A police officer at the scene struck up a conversation with the man.
"It looked like a casual encounter at first and then suddenly that man produced a knife and lunged at the officer and attempted to stab him," Weiner said.
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David Whitaker, vice president for communications at the Columbus Regional Airport Authority said the violence was "contained" to a small area at an entrance to Terminal C at the Port Columbus International Airport with no one involved except the man who was shot.
The Columbus Fire Department bomb squad searched the SUV, Weiner said. It was not clear who it belonged to.
The man's identity was being withheld pending notification of his family, Weiner said.
Whitaker said said Terminal C's departure concourse was closed after the shooting, and some flights were delayed or canceled. But many people were unaware a shooting had occurred until later.
Jim Shriner, a towing company owner, who was called to the airport to tow the SUV, told the Columbus Dispatch he heard two gunshots and saw the man fall and then get up again. He was on his feet and moving toward the officers when a plain clothes officer who had just arrived fired the fatal shot.
Craig Lombardi said he was waiting to board a Delta flight to New York City at 1 p.m., that it was announced as delayed and then canceled shortly before passengers expected to board at 2 p.m.
"They said they canceled the flight because of weather," Lombardi told the Dispatch. "They won't let anybody back toward Terminal C."
