SAN ANTONIO – A handgun-wielding man who opened fire outside the San Antonio airport was fatally shot by police Thursday, hours after he’d shot at vehicles from a highway overpass in the northern part of the Texas city, officials said.
The city's airport was placed on lockdown after police got a call around 2:30 p.m. about a car driving the wrong way on a road at the airport, police Chief William McManus said during a news conference. An officer stopped the car at Terminal B and the man jumped out and began shooting, he said.
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Police returned fire, hitting the man, McManus said. The man was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
No one else was hit by gunfire.
McManus applauded the officer who shot the man, saying the action saved many lives.
“The shooter had a lot of ammunition and a big handgun that he was shooting indiscriminately toward people,” the chief said.
McManus said the shooter, who was not identified, was a man in his 40s who police have interacted with before. The man has a history of mental illness, McManus said.
The shooter is believed to be the same person who earlier in the day opened fire from a busy overpass in northern San Antonio, McManus said. The man matched the description given on the man seen shooting from an overpass, and the shell casings left behind matched the .45 caliber handgun used at the airport.
FBI special agent Chris Combs said there is no reason to think the shooting was terrorism and that the investigation is being handled locally.
“Unfortunately this man has a history of some mental imbalances,” Combs said said.
Airport spokeswoman Evelynn Bailey said airport police responded to the lower level of Terminal A and contained the situation. Flight operations were not interrupted, according to the website FlightAware.com.