KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics in Kansas, Missouri and at the local level. Share your story idea with Charlie.
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We’re learning new details about the threat that prompted a full evacuation of the Kansas City International Airport’s terminal on Sunday.
Kansas City Aviation Department spokesperson Jackson Overstreet said the airport received a call Sunday morning saying a bomb was located in Concourse B and in the parking garage.
Overstreet said airport administrators and law enforcement leaders jointly made the decision to evacuate the terminal.
Police never found a bomb.
“We check every nook and cranny of this place no matter what,” Overstreet said.
Sunday was the first time officials evacuated the entire terminal since it opened in 2023. In December, a threat prompted a partial evacuation.
The FBI said it has not arrested a suspect in either the threat from Sunday or December.
Vaugh Baker runs Strategos International, a security consulting and training agency in Independence.
He said there must have been a combination of factors that led airport leaders to empty the entire terminal.
“The consequences of not doing that are too great if something were to occur,” Baker said.
His advice for people who are at an airport during an evacuation is to follow directions, remain calm, and get to a location where an explosion is less likely to ricochet.
“When emotions are high, logic is low,” Baker said.
Overstreet said airport leadership is evaluating the response to Sunday’s threat and will determine how they can improve so that passengers have as good an experience as possible.
“We want you, when you’re here, to feel comfortable enough to get on that plane and go through with your plans,” Overstreet said.
Airport leaders ushered passengers who had passed through TSA security to the tarmac during the terminal’s evacuation. Overstreet said that allowed those passengers to avoid going through TSA screening again.
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