Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesman Shannon Hartley told a news
conference Tuesday night that one of two suspicious packages found at
the airport had a "destructive" component that required it to be taken
offsite. He said the device was later "rendered safe."
Fox 30 reported that airport police said in a news conference that one of the packages was found in a garage and another was found in the terminal. There was no word on what the packages looked like or what led authorities to deem them suspicious.
Witnesses told the station, police were ordering the evacuation via the intercoms in the airport and that TSA agents were saying, "get out!"
Airport officials also tweeted that passengers on inbound flights currently on the ground would be bused to offsite hotels as transportation became available.
Hartley would not say which of the packages was destructive, and said he could not confirm local news media reports that two suspects had been arrested.
When authorities decided to evacuate the terminal and shut down the airport, some incoming planes were held up on the tarmac until buses could arrive to pick up the passengers, airport spokesman Michael Stewart said. He could not say how many planes were held up or for how long.
At least one plane was preparing to depart at the time of the evacuation, but Stewart said he did not know if it already had pulled away from the gate at the time of the evacuation. No flights were allowed to take off following the evacuation.
With the airport reopening, Stewart said individual airlines will determine how to restart their operations. "The airlines will work to ensure all passengers will receive their luggage," the airport tweeted on its official Twitter site.
Arlie Gentry, a passenger who arrived on a flight from New York via Baltimore, said the Southwest Airlines plane he was on landed just before 6:30 p.m.
"We moved from one spot on the runway to another spot," Gentry said. "They told us we couldn't get off the plane."
The pilots couldn't initially tell the passengers why, claiming they didn't know themselves, Gentry said.
Gentry said the delay was cumbersome and bothersome, but everyone on his plane remained calm. He said he was never really concerned for his safety, because the plane remained so far from the terminal.
Gentry said a bus arrived about 9:30 p.m. to start taking passengers to a nearby hotel. Gentry's sisters had been waiting in the parking lot for several hours and were planning to take him back to Gainesville.
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