Man Is Arrested After Threatening to Open Fire at Atlanta Airport, Police Say

The man, Billy J. Cagle, 49, was arrested after family members told the police that he was headed to the airport, “in their words, ‘to shoot it up,’” Atlanta’s police chief said.

A man who appeared to be planning a large-scale attack at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was arrested on Monday after his family alerted law enforcement officials that he was on his way there to “shoot it up,” the authorities said.

The man, Billy J. Cagle, 49, a felon, was arrested at the airport and charged with making terroristic threats, an attempt to commit aggravated assault and other firearms charges, Chief Darin Schierbaum of the Atlanta Police Department said at a news conference on Monday.

Police officers found a AR-15-style rifle with 27 rounds of ammunition inside the Chevrolet flatbed pickup truck that Mr. Cagle had parked directly outside the airport, the authorities said. They said they were looking into how Mr. Cagle, who couldn’t legally own a gun, had obtained it. His criminal history includes an arrest for drug possession in Cartersville, Ga., the authorities said.

The authorities were alerted to a potential threat at the airport around 9:40 a.m. after Mr. Cagle’s family informed them “that he was streaming on social media that he was headed to the airport, in their words, ‘to shoot it up,’” Chief Schierbaum said.

“What we didn’t know is that Mr. Cagle had already arrived at the airport,” he said.

Mr. Cagle pulled up outside the airport at 9:29 a.m. and entered the Domestic Terminal South a few minutes later, the chief said. He added that Mr. Cagle “seemed to be very interested in the T.S.A. check-in area,” which was heavily crowded with travelers at the time.

Around 9:54 a.m., Mr. Cagle, who is 6-foot-3, was arrested by police officers, who needed two sets of handcuffs to restrain him because of his size, the authorities said.

Video footage played at the news conference showed Mr. Cagle, wearing a light blue polo top, entering the airport and striding through a crowd of travelers before officers identified him and pinned him to the ground. Mr. Cagle can be heard yelling. The authorities were able to find the pickup truck.

Chief Schierbaum said he believed Mr. Cagle was headed back to the truck to retrieve the rifle, and that he was “likely” to use it inside the crowded terminal.

“We’re here today briefing you on a success and not a tragedy,” he said, “because a family saw something and said something.”

Speaking at the news conference, Mayor Andre Dickens of Atlanta described Mr. Cagle as “mentally challenged” and said that thanks to the information from his family and the swift response of law enforcement officers, a crisis was averted.

“Twenty-seven or more lives could have been lost,” he said.

Related Content