Christmas family dispute leads to 3 shot, 1 stabbed at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport: police

Police in Phoenix say they detained two individuals after three people were shot and one was stabbed following a “family dispute that escalated” at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Christmas.

Officers received an alert about the incident, which took place outside a restaurant in Terminal 4, around 9:45 p.m., a Phoenix Police Department sergeant said at the scene.

“Preliminary information suggests a group of known individuals engaged in a physical altercation that escalated to one subject retrieving a handgun from their person,” a police media advisory said.

Following the incident, three people had gunshot wounds, with one adult female listed as having “life-threatening” injuries, and two adult males in stable condition with injuries that were non-life-threatening.

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Police tape can be seen at Terminal 4 in Sky Harbor International Airport following a shooting on Christmas night. (FOX 10 Phoenix)

Two people involved were located and detained in the parking garage, police said, identifying them only as “an adult male and a juvenile female.” Police said the man had a stab wound and was brought to a hospital, where he was said to be in stable condition.

“There are no active threats at the airport, Detectives are on scene and completing an initial review to learn what led to this incident,” Phoenix Police posted to X at 11:58 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. “No flights are affected by this ongoing investigation.”

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A police officer enters Terminal 4 at Sky Harbor International Airport on Dec. 25, 2024, following a family dispute that escalated to a shooting and stabbing. (FOX 10 Phoenix)

A shelter-in-place for the airport was lifted around 10:30 p.m., local FOX 10 reported. Terminal operations and the Phoenix Sky Train were briefly paused as precautions, an airport statement obtained by the TV station said.

Thursday morning, a FOX 10 reporter said the entrance to B and C gates in Terminal 4 were still blocked off.

The sergeant at the scene Wednesday night said that in a separate incident, another man was falsely told of an active shooter situation at the airport and arrived armed. He got into an altercation with an officer and was detained prior to being booked into jail. No injuries were reported in the second incident.

Weapons were recovered from both incidents, police said.