A man was shot and killed by San Francisco police early Thursday outside the entrance to the BART platform at the San Francisco Airport’s International Terminal, authorities said.
A bystander also was hospitalized in the incident, but authorities said that person did not have life-threatening injuries. San Francisco Fire Department paramedics treated that person at the scene. Police did not say how he was injured.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, San Francisco police said they responded around 7:26 a.m. to several calls that a man was acting suspiciously at the terminal and that officers later determined he was carrying a handgun.
Police did not offer many details, saying only that “in the course of law enforcement officers’ engagement with the suspect, an officer-involved shooting occurred involving San Francisco police officers.”
Airport spokesman Doug Yakel earlier Thursday in a statement said police originally believed the man had two guns and that the man was outside the BART entrance at the terminal.
According to Yakel, police officers tried to de-escalate the situation, but the man continued to demonstrate threatening behavior. Yakel said that after police tried unspecified non-lethal ways to end the threat, the man advanced on them and officers fired.
Police called medics and gave aid to the man after the shooting. He died at the scene. His identity was not released Thursday morning.
Authorities did not identify the officers on the scene or say how many rounds had been fired.
The actions by the TSA agent were lauded by officials.
“The TSA employee reported seeing suspicious behavior,” Yakel said in an email. “We regularly message ‘See something, say something,’ to our employees. SFO is grateful to this employee for exemplifying this concept, which allowed police to respond quickly and prevent the individual from going further into the airport.”
BART trains did not stop at the station for roughly an hour, with a bus bridge from Millbrae carrying passengers to the airport. Yakel said there was no interruption to airport services or flights.
The primary station entrance at the airport remained closed into the afternoon, the agency said. Passengers could enter and exit the station through the secondary entrance on the upper level.
The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Office were investigating the incident. San Francisco police said they were conducting an internal investigation. Police said they notified the state’s Department of Justice to comply with state law.
Police also said they will convene a public town hall on the shooting within 10 days.
