A judge has ordered a man who is accused of bringing a fake bomb into LaGuardia Airport to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, authorities said.
The disheveled man, identified as Scott McGann, 32, caused a commotion at the main terminal early Saturday when he began acting bizarrely and refused to answer questions by security, the Queens district attorney’s office said. He then grabbed what looked like a trigger attached to a wire on his bag, prosecutors said.
That prompted the evacuation of the central terminal building was evacuated shortly after 5:30 a.m., said John Kelly, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
It wasn’t clear if McGann made a threat, but security officials said he “was just acting crazy,” according to Kelly. Police arrested McGann, and a bomb squad searched his bag.
The device in the man’s bag was a few batteries and wires, and was not dangerous, police said.
McGann is apparently homeless and had been living in New York for the last year, the AP reported. He has been arrested in New York at least three times in the past two years, most recently in June, authorities said. He gave prosecutors a Manhattan address that does not exist, according to city property records.
He had a ticket for a United Airlines flight to Chicago, with connecting flights in an itinerary leading to Oakland, Calif.
McGann faces charges of placing a false bomb in a transportation facility and making terroristic threats, police said.
He was supposed to be arraigned Saturday night, but a judge in Queens postponed it and ordered psychiatric evaluation. The judge wants doctors to determine if McGann is mentally fit to stand trial.
Pictures and video from the scene showed that hundreds of travelers were in the terminal at the time.
All flights in and out of the airport were suspended for a few hours. The terminal reopened at about 9 a.m. but flight delays continued.
Twitter users updated the situation from outside the airport. Some complained that they were getting no information on what was going on while others wrote that they were just happy that it wasn’t raining.
Police swept the main terminal and some airport workers were allowed back into the building before 8:30 a.m.
United delayed about a half-dozen flights, according to the AP.
American Airlines canceled 16 departing and arriving flights.
Flights by Delta Air Lines, which has a separate terminal, were still disrupted because traffic prevented flight crews from getting to the airport.
AirTran Airways canceled two flights and delayed about a dozen others.
(Source: MyFoxNY)
2 Responses
What is this ‘news story’ which took place at 5:30 Shabbos morning, doing on ‘Yeshiva World News’? Does it personally affect even 1 reader of yours?
If I am interested in World or even Local news, I know where to find it.
Let’s keep YWN exactly that; ‘YESHIVA WORLD NEWS’.
If you Have not Noticed. YWN does not mean they only print “YESHIVA WORLD NEWS.” rather any thing that is of interest or importance to people. only this is in a kosher way, where is the New York Times could have the same news but not in a very kosher way.