San Antonio airport evacuated after a ‘very specific’ bomb threat

Around 2,000 people were evacuated from San Antonio International Airport on Wednesday after officials said they received a “very specific threat” describing three bombs placed in a short-term parking garage.

When bomb-sniffing dogs came across three vehicles parked near each other in the basement level of the parking garage, they “reacted as if there could possibly be explosives,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said at a televised news conference Wednesday.

The parking garage is between the airport’s two terminals. The cars themselves were parked more than 300 feet from the terminals, an airport spokesman said. As of 3:30 p.m. CDT, a bomb squad was analyzing the contents of the cars.

The phone call also included a “nonspecific” threat about both of the airport’s terminals, an airport spokesman said. Within 15 minutes of receiving the threat, officials herded passengers onto the tarmac and sent arriving planes to parking spots far from the gates.

Multiple agencies checked and cleared Terminal B, but Terminal A was still being examined at 3:30 p.m., McManus said.

After Terminal A has been cleared, airport offiicials will confer with the Transportation Security Administration to determine when the airport can reopen, an airport spokesman said.

The threat was called in by a man, McManus said. Officials are working to trace the call.

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