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Law enforcement identifies woman they say fired shots at Dallas airport, forcing airport evacuations

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said the shooter was the lone injured person.

DALLAS — A 37-year-old woman fired off several rounds, including one toward an officer, with a handgun near a ticket counter at the Dallas Love Field airport on Monday morning before the officer returned fire and struck her, according to an affidavit released Tuesday.

The woman, identified by police as Portia Odufuwa, was taken to Parkland Hospital to have her injuries treated, police said. She faces a charge of aggravated assault of a public servant.

EN ESPAÑOL: Disparos dentro del aeropuerto Love Field de Dallas provoca evacuaciones y chequeos a personas que ya habían sido revisadas

WATCH: Authorities give an update on Love Field Airport shooting | July 26, 2022

In an update on Tuesday, Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia showed the members of the media some video footage of Odufuwa holding a gun in the air and firing rounds. Garcia said she fired three shots. You can see travelers in the kiosk area scatter as the rounds were fired.

In a press conference shortly after noon on Monday, Garcia said the woman was dropped off at the airport and changed clothes in a restroom before approaching a ticket counter and firing a handgun. 

The affidavit released Tuesday shed more light on the incident, saying Odufuwa threatened to blow up the airport before firing two shots into the ceiling. Police also later found a round "with a trajectory that was located in the kiosk near where" the officer was taking cover, "confirming that she was shooting at the officer during the encounter," the affidavit said.

Shortly after the woman fired her weapon, the officer, who was not injured, returned several shots, causing the woman to fall to the ground as she was shot in the lower body.

It was not initially clear where the woman was aiming with her shots, or what her motive might have been, Garcia said Monday, noting that the woman's shots did not strike anyone else in the airport.

Garcia reported no other injuries from the shooting at the time of his press conference.

Odufuwa has a criminal record.

She’s been charged with crimes in Collin and Dallas counties.

Court documents show she was found incompetent to stand trial on a charge of filing a false report in Dallas County in 2021. She was sent to outpatient therapy.

Documents show she did not successfully complete the therapy program, but was released so she could be “fully engaged in mental health services with a different provider.”

The Dallas Field Division of the ATF sent personnel to Love Field in the minutes after the shooting to gather evidence to conduct an urgent trace on Odufuwa’s weapon.

The ATF says that information was forwarded to DPD, but Dallas police would not elaborate on any of the findings.

Video shared on social media in the wake of the reported shooting incident showed people crouching inside of the airport and taking cover after apparently being told to "run." 

Sources told WFAA that there may have been additional injuries in the chaos that ensued in those moments. Ambulances could be seen arriving at the airport at around 12:30 p.m. on Monday.

The shooting caused widespread flight and security delays, as the airport had to be evacuated and all travelers had to be re-screened.

At 11:11 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at Love Field over security concerns. The airport resumed operations just after 3:30 p.m. Monday. 

The Transportation Security Administration shortly before 12:30 p.m. reported that Love Field agents had evacuated everyone from the airport and were "in the process of rescreening all travelers through airport security checkpoint." Around 2 p.m., TSA officials said "normal airport security checkpoint operations have resumed," thought flight operations were still suspended.

At least part of the airport was evacuated in the immediate wake of the shooing, a North Texas police chief reported. Rockwall Police Chief Max Geron, a former Dallas Police Department commander, tweeted about 11:20 a.m. that he "just got evacuated of Love Field after an apparent shooting."

"Family is safe," Geron tweeted. "TSA did a great job."

Additional video shared to social media revealed would-be passengers taking cover and crouching in an area between the airport and the tarmac.

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