Gunman Seized; Held Boy Hostage at Dallas Airport

A gunman demanding to be flown to Egypt grabbed a boy standing in line with his parents Monday at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, then held the child for eight hours before surrendering, officials said. The youth was not injured.

“There was no gunfire. Negotiations were successfully concluded,” said airport spokesman Joe Dealey.

The gunman had earlier threatened to kill the boy, identified as Michael Caruso, 10, of Sunrise, Fla., if a plane were not provided. The man had fired shots that hit no one in the Delta Air Lines terminal at the airport, Dealey said.

‘Highly Agitated’

He described the gunman as “very excited and highly agitated.

The terminal was evacuated during the incident, which shut down Delta’s flights from Dallas and caused flight delays and cancellations in other parts of the nation, including Los Angeles, airline officials said.

Dealey said that the gunman fired several shots as he took the child from a Delta ticket counter where he had had an exchange of words with an agent. A witness said the boy’s father pursued the gunman, who fired into the ceiling.

Witnesses said they saw the man, identified as Solah Abou-Kassem, hold the gun to the boy’s head.

During the standoff, FBI agents and police had some contact with the gunman and could see him moving around inside a boarding area, near several concession stands, Dealey said.

A group of people emerged from the terminal about five hours after the incident began.

“We were stuck in a little cubbyhole right next to where he was,” said one of them, Don Frerking of Richardson, Tex. “We were about 10 feet away from him.”

Cliff Marler of Oklahoma City said he was standing in the Delta ticket line when the gunman “grabbed the little boy.”

“When he took off with the little boy, the father took off running after the guy with the gun,” Marler said. “When (the gunman) saw the father running after his kid, he fired up into the ceiling.”

Dave Helmke, of Euless, Tex., said he was passing through the main ticket counter area about 3:45 p.m. when he saw the incident.

‘Saw Him Grab the Boy’

“I saw him grab the boy, put a gun to his head, raise it up in the air, shoot it, then they went off to the right of the counter,” Helmke said. “I went away from the ticket counter and went behind a seat and hid.”