• A passenger injured two workers in an incident at Las Vegas airport, police say, per local media.
  • Loud noises were heard on Sunday that led to chaos including flight delays, cancellations, and long lines.
  • The man, named as Stefan Hutchinson, was arrested twice at the airport in two days, police said.

A passenger injured two workers at Las Vegas airport in an incident that led to chaos including flight delays and people running through security without being screened, local media reported, citing a police report.

Social media posts suggested that panic began at Las Vegas' Harry Reid International Airport early Sunday morning when passengers and staff heard what they thought was a gunshot. Las Vegas police said that reports of a shooting in terminal one of the airport were "unfounded."

Local police have now released more details and said that the person suspected of causing the chaos was arrested at the airport two days in a row, according to media reports.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Stefan Hutchinson was arrested for the second time at 4:35 a.m. on Sunday morning for a count of burglary of a business. AP reported that two Spirit Airlines ticket agents were hurt and taken to hospital after he breached security, citing local police. He had earlier been arrested but released on Saturday.

Officer Eric Jones said in the report that he heard "approximately 10 loud banging sounds" in the airline ticketing area, leading to "hundreds of frightened citizens fleeing" and some trampling over each other, AP reported.

"The initial sound was a door or trash can falling," another officer told AP. "That triggered patrons to leave lines, which caused stanchions to fall, causing a succession of loud sounds."

Hutchinson was taken into custody, per the reports.

The noise on Sunday "caused a panic among travelers, subsequently creating a security incident when some people rushed through security checkpoints," the airport said.

"As a result, passengers from multiple concourses needed to return to checkpoints to be re-screened before boarding aircraft." It added that this would cause delays as well as possible cancellations.

The Review-Journal cited court records and police comments that said that Hutchinson had also been arrested at the airport on Saturday morning. That arrest was over misdemeanor charges of pushing past Transportation Security Administration staff, which police said was a breach of security, as well as for resisting a public officer. Police also said that Hutchinson was released later that day, The Review-Journal reported, citing court records.

AP also reported that Hutchinson was accused of stealing a pair of sunglasses.

Around 30% of flights to and from the airport were delayed on Sunday while 32 flights, or around 3%, were canceled, according to data from flight-tracking site FlightAware.

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