Police Kill Knife-Wielding Man at St. Louis Airport

By Gabe Whisnant

Breaking News Editor

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An airport police officer fatally shot a man armed with a knife early Friday outside a terminal at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, authorities said. No travelers or airport employees were injured in the confrontation, which occurred around 1 a.m. near the light rail platform outside Terminal 1, an area accessible to the public and not beyond a security checkpoint.

St. Louis County Police spokesperson Vera Clay said officers approached the man after noticing he was lingering in a restricted area and refused repeated commands to leave. When officers attempted to move him along, the man displayed a knife, prompting officers to deploy Tasers. Clay said the man continued advancing despite being hit with the stun devices, and one officer opened fire, killing him.

“We don’t believe this was an individual trying to catch an airplane or coming into town,” Clay said, adding that investigators are working to determine why he was at the airport and why he refused to comply.

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The man’s name has not been released. The two officers involved are members of the airport’s police department with six months and one year of service, respectively, in addition to previous law enforcement experience, police said.

The terminal’s MetroLink rail service was suspended for roughly three hours following the shooting, with shuttle buses transporting travelers between stations. The airport remained open throughout the morning, airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said in a statement, and rail service resumed later Friday.

Airports nationwide have faced mounting strain in recent months as staffing shortages collide with the effects of the federal government shutdown, which has delayed hiring, halted training pipelines and stretched airport security agencies thin. Airport police unions and transportation officials say the shutdown has worsened already-difficult recruitment and retention efforts, leading to longer shifts, mandatory overtime and increasingly volatile encounters in unsecured areas such as rail platforms, parking garages and terminal entrances.

The surge in unpredictable incidents has renewed scrutiny of how airports manage potentially dangerous encounters before they escalate. Industry groups have urged federal officials to create crisis-response teams and restore stalled funding for public-area patrols once the shutdown ends, warning that understaffed departments are more vulnerable to confrontations involving individuals who are not traveling.

This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.

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