A shootout outside Mexico City's International Airport (AICM) on Tuesday, which originated after a police chase, caused panic among travelers who sought refuge inside, and left one officer injured and a man detained.
The events occurred during a pursuit by agents of the Undersecretariat of Intelligence and Police Investigation to an alleged thief for a robbery in the customs area of the air installation.
The agents followed a vehicle in which the alleged thief intended to escape. The driver of the car, noticing the presence of the authorities, opened fire and tried to enter the airport parking lot before he was arrested.
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At least one policeman was wounded by three bullet shots, one of which was left inside his body, so he was transferred in good condition to a local hospital. While the suspect was detained, said Navy Admiral Carlos Vázquez, director of the AICM.
"No passenger or visitor was put at risk," said Vázquez, who noted that action is being taken with the corresponding judicial authorities.
A woman also suffered minor injuries after being hit by one of the vehicles involved in the police chase. The authorities indicated that he was in good condition.
Users of social networks shared videos of the moment of anguish they lived in Terminal 1 of the airport (which is an area of arrivals and departures of national and international flights), after they heard several firearm detonations.
"I'm at the airport and there was a shooting and we all ran to hide," wrote a user of the social network X, formerly known as Twitter.
Actor, singer and television presenter Diego Schoening said on Instagram that his family had been in the air terminal when the shooting broke out, accompanying the message with a video in which a girl is seen crying and a visibly distraught woman complaining of "a shooting at the airport.
Members of the emergency services and the authorities went to the air terminal, who began an investigation of the facts.
Other videos show what appear to be bullet casings on Carlos León Avenue, where the confrontation between the police and the alleged criminal took place.
Pablo Vázquez Camacho, chief of the police of the Mexican capital, also said in a message on the social network X that personnel of the Secretariat of Citizen Security arrested outside the AICM a man related to the theft of cargo trucks in the customs area, "who fired shots against the police and, As a result, a colleague suffered gunshot wounds."
Admiral Vázquez indicated that the activities of the airport were not affected and that they remain normal, although the main access road for cars was partially closed while the police carry out ballistic surveys at the scene of the crime.
The events come just days after the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, assured that the country will recover the Category 1 area of safety of the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA, in English) after two years of having lost it.
With information from Milenio and EFE