Christmas shooting at Phoenix airport leaves 3 people wounded; 1 stabbed

PHOENIX — Police are investigating a Christmas shooting at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix that left three people injured by gunfire and another person stabbed.

Phoenix police said the evening shooting happened at around 9:45 p.m. at an airport restaurant that is outside the security checkpoints in Terminal 4.

An adult female and two adult males were shot, leaving the female with injuries police describe as a life-threatening. The two men were in stable condition and expected to survive, police said in a statement. The man hospitalized with at least one stab wound was in stable condition.

The group of people all knew each other and had a physical fight that led to one of them to pull a gun, police said.

“I do believe that this was a family dispute that escalated,” Phoenix police Sgt. Mayra Reeson told reporters.

After the gunfire, a man and a girl were detained in a nearby parking garage. Police did not immediately release information on possible charges. They were still investigating why the group was at the airport, and whether they were traveling or were there for some other reason.

The gunfire led to the temporary closure of a security checkpoint in Terminal A and a pause in service at the terminal’s PHX Sky Train station.

“Of course this was scary, this was Christmas evening, everybody’s trying to get home,” Reeson said.