San Jose Police after airport security breach
San Jose CA Sept 24 2021 San Jose Police have arrested a 22-year-old man, who claimed to have swallowed explosives, slipped through the gate and drove into a secure area at Mineta San Jose International Airport.
A despondent man identified by police as Alex Portillo entered the south side of the airport on Sunday, breaching the security while claiming to possess explosive devices with him.
The suspect, a resident of Brentwood, was taken into custody quickly after San Jose Police and Patrol Officers responded to the security breach.
No explosives have been found or located, as stated by the suspect.
According to the San Jose Police Department release, the suspect allegedly followed an airport employee past a sterile area in the airport in a vehicle at about 7:30.
As soon as a security breach was reported in the sterile area, the officers surrounded his car and stopped him from driving any further.
Though the suspect went through the gates, the vehicle driven by him didn’t make it to the runway.
He barricaded himself inside without agreeing to come out, but finally, he emerged out of the car while allegedly claiming to have an explosive inside his body as well as his car. None of his claims about the explosives prove to be true.
The man appeared to have ingested a large quantity of unknown medication and was suffering a mental health issue, police stated on social media. He was hospitalized to receive services. Once he gets discharged from the local hospital, he’ll face several charges against him on suspicion of trespassing onto airport assets and delaying the officers.
Officers didn’t reveal information on how the suspect entered the secure area or where he was detained. The incident delayed the flight operations for a while. Still, it was quickly resumed to normal after police took the suspect to custody after a brief standoff, and his claim about having explosives was unfounded.
Airports are sensitive areas that require serious attention when entering or exiting the sterile areas. No property damage has been reported in the airport. However, the inbound flights had to divert to a runway farther from the happenings, and all flights traveling out of San Jose were delayed for 45 minutes due to security threats imposed.
