Your questions about the Love Field airport shooting answered

Operations at Dallas Love Field airport were temporarily suspended Monday after Dallas police shot a woman who opened fire inside the building.

Portia Odufuwa, 37, was shot by police after she pulled out a gun at the airport, aimed it toward the ceiling and fired several times, Dallas police said. No one else was injured. Odufuwa was struck in the lower body and hospitalized, police said. The extent of her injuries was unknown. Police said Odufuwa was dropped off at the airport about 11 a.m., where she went inside the bathroom and came out wearing a hoodie before the shooting.

Did the shooting occur before or after the woman went through airport security?

Odufuwa was dropped off in front of the Southwest Airlines ticket counter and remained in that area, according to Dallas Police Department Chief Eddie García.

Is the shooter the same person who attempted to rob the Wylie Bank of America? If so, what is she doing with a gun?

Odufuwa was accused of robbing a bank in Wylie on April 5, 2019. Wylie police said Odufuwa entered the Bank of America in the 1300 block of West FM544 and displayed a note demanding an undisclosed amount of money. Customers were moved to a safe location, and responding officers found Odufuwa nearby as she tried to flee, police said at the time.

She was found incompetent to stand trial and underwent both in-patient and out-patient treatment. The case was eventually dismissed, court records show. It was not clear Monday why she was found incompetent.

What do federal and state laws say about carrying a firearm in an airport, prior to the TSA security checkpoint? I remember reading a few years ago that open carry is permitted in the public areas of airports.

Love Field’s rules and regulations posted online state, “No person may carry a firearm(s), weapon or destructive device (collectively referred to as weapons below) on or about the Airport except as allowed by federal, state or local law.”

A Texas penal code states that firearms are prohibited, “in or into a secured area of an airport,” and goes on to define a “secured area” as, “an area of an airport terminal building to which access is controlled by the inspection of persons and property under federal law, or an aircraft parking area that is used by common carriers in air transportation but not by general aviation and to which access is controlled under federal law. The term does not include a baggage claim area, a motor vehicle parking area used by passengers, employees, or persons awaiting an arrival, or an area used by the public to pick up or drop off passengers or employees.”

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