A man is dead after a police officer shot him at St. Louis Lambert International Airport early Friday morning.
Airport police officers said they were doing routine security checks around 1:05 a.m. when they saw a man with a knife inside Terminal 1. The officers said they told the man to drop the weapon, and when he refused, one of the them used a stun gun on him.
Officers said he kept advancing toward them, and that’s when a second officer pulled out his gun and fired. The man, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Airport police asked the St. Louis County Police Department to take over the investigation. A county police spokesperson said the man killed was not a passenger or anyone who was using the airport for travel.
“Today’s incident in Terminal One was a tragic event for our Airport Community,” Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said in a statement. “However, I take great pride in our response. As police responded and county authorities conducted their investigation, we were able to continue normal operations at STL.”
Hamm-Niebruegge said the Terminal 1 MetroLink station was closed for approximately three hours. The airport used shuttle buses to take riders from Terminal 1 to the Terminal 2 MetroLink station. The airport was operating normally Friday morning.
The officer who fired has worked at the airport for a year and has previous law enforcement experience. The shooting remains under investigation.
