DALLAS (NewsNation) — A woman fired several gunshots, apparently at the ceiling, inside Dallas’ Love Field Airport on Monday before an officer shot and wounded her, authorities said.
The 37-year-old woman was dropped off at the airport, walked inside and then entered a bathroom, Dallas police Chief Eddie Garcia told reporters. She emerged wearing a hooded sweatshirt or some other clothing she hadn’t arrived in, pulled a gun and fired several shots, apparently at the ceiling, he said.
“At this point, we don’t know where exactly the individual was aiming,” Garcia said.
An officer who was nearby shot the woman in her “lower extremities,” wounding her and enabling her to be taken into custody, Garcia said. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Garcia didn’t release the woman’s name or speculate as to what her motive might have been.
The terminal is secure and there is no threat to the public, police said.
Karen Warner told The Dallas Morning News that she was checking in for her flight when she heard a loud argument about 20 feet behind her, followed by a gunshot. Then she started running.
“I heard about 10 more shots while I was running away,” said Warner, who couldn’t discern what the argument was about.
Love Field, which is one of the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s two major airports, suspended airport operations after the shooting but said at around 3:45 p.m. that they had resumed. The Federal Aviation Administration held up flights for a couple of hours while police investigated, but flights were cleared to resume around mid-afternoon.
A spokesman for Southwest Airlines, which uses Love Field as a hub, said the airline canceled most of its flights that were scheduled to depart or arrive at Love Field before 6 p.m. CDT. Southwest canceled 85 flights at Love Field on Monday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
Police later identified the woman as Portia Odufuwa, 37, and did not speculate as to her motive.
Odufuwa was charged in 2019 with a robbery after an encounter with a bank teller in Collin County, according to public records.
“This is extremely problematic, this lackadaisical parole system that we’re seeing,” former CIA officer and FBI specialist Tracy Walder said Monday night during an appearance on NewsNation’s “Banfield.” “The punishment just doesn’t fit the crime anymore. And people are much more likely to commit misdemeanors than they are felonies because it stays on your record for less time,” Walder said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.