Man shot, killed at major airport

A huge global air gateway was in chaos when a “man in distress” pulled a gun on police officers and was then shot dead.

Police shot and killed an armed man at one of the world's biggest international airports on Thursday, local time.

The death occurred at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport Thursday causing a “logistic nightmare” at Canada’s busiest air gateway.

The man, in his 30s, allegedly pulled out a gun when police responded to a report of a “man in distress” inside of an SUV outside of Terminal 1 just before 7am on Thursday (9pm AEST) prompting three officers to open fire, according to Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, reports the New York Post.

The unidentified man was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

No officers were injured, authorities said.

The shooting “is an isolated incident and there are no known threats to public safety,” the Peel Police Department said.

Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said the group knew each other and were there “for the purposes of travel”.

Police cars are pictured at the scene of police-involved shooting at the departures area of terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson International Airport. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)

Officials view the scene of police-involved shooting at the departures area of terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson International Airport. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)

Three officers responded and they had tried to mediate the dispute for around 10 minutes. However, the man la; allegedly then took out a gun and pointed it at an officer, Mr Duraiappah said.

Witness Danilo Simic told Canada’s public broadcaster CBC News he had just dropped off a friend when he heard at least 10 loud bangs — which stopped travellers at the airport dead in their tracks.

“Right away I thought, this can’t be a car’s loud exhaust. This is something different, something that I haven’t heard before,” he said.

Mr Simic told the outlet he saw a man lying on the ground bleeding from his torso and head as he drove away.

An officer was giving him CPR and other cops were holding back a woman from the scene, he said.

Chief of Peel Regional Police Nishan Duraiappah speaks to the media near the scene of a police-involved shooting at the departures area of terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson International Airport, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former Toronto police homicide detective Mark Mendelson described the shooting as a “logistic nightmare” given the amount of people coming and going from the busy airport.

“This is the peak time at Pearson, this hour of the day. Lots of US flights going out, lots of Caribbean flights going out, lots of planes coming in as well,” he told CP24.

“There is an enormous amount of people. Well over 100,000 people in this particular sort of timeslot.”

In February, Toronto Airport was the location of a starling plane accident when a Delta jet landed in icy weather and flipped upside down on the runway.

This story was published in the New York Post and is reproduced with permission.