Gunman arrested after shots fired inside Canberra Airport terminal

CANBERRA: Shortly after gunshots were fired in the main terminal building at Canberra Airport on Sunday afternoon (local time), a man was arrested by the Australian Capital Territory (ATC) Policing.

Around 1.30 pm, police were called to the Canberra Airport following reports of gunshots in the main terminal building. Shortly after one person was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered.

CCTV has been reviewed and at this time the person in custody is believed to be the only person responsible for this incident, the police said.

The Canberra Airport terminal was evacuated as a precaution and the situation at the Airport is contained. ACT Policing requires members of the public to not attend the Airport at this time.

There have been no reported injuries.

ACT Policing have taken carriage of the incident.

In a Tweet, ATC policing wrote, "About 1:30pm today police were called to the Canberra Airport following reports of gunshots in the main terminal building. Shortly after, one person was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered. There is no immediate threat to public safety."

Traveller Alison, who preferred not to give her surname, said she had just put her bags into the security check when the incident occurred. "We were in security and heard the first gunshots. I turned around and there was a man standing with a pistol, like a small one, facing out towards the car drop-off," she said.

"Someone yelled get down, get down and we just ran out of there."

Lorraine Haase, a Canberra local, said she boarded a "really full" Virgin flight to Melbourne for a holiday around 1.15pm. "[We were] sitting down, about to take off when the captain came out and announced that there had been an incident at the airport involving a shooter," she told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

"[He said] the airport had been evacuated and it would be some time before we were likely to depart." A spokesperson for the airport declined to comment, noting it was a "police matter at the moment".