ROMULUS, Mich. – A passenger who left a secure area at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Thursday, then re-entered without submitting to a security check, prompted a lockdown of the facility that lasted for more than two hours, officials and airport representatives said.
The man had already gone through security when he returned to a public area, according to airport spokesman Brian Lassaline. The man then went back into a secured area without resubmitting to security, prompting the lockdown.
Airport police apprehended the individual, who was in custody late Thursday, according to a statement from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
The passenger had arrived on a flight from Little Rock, Arkansas, and had "allegedly missed his connection to Los Angeles," the statement said.
During the lockdown, "breach gates" around the airport's McNamara Terminal, the facility's largest, were closed, and passengers had to remain in place, Lassaline said.
Airport police swept the terminal "out of an abundance of caution" before the airport and TSA resumed normal operations, according to TSA. At the time security screenings resumed, about 40 passengers were in line. Operations in the north terminal were not impacted.
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