CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Flights were delayed at the city's airport Tuesday and concourses were evacuated after an X-ray security screener spotted a toy gun and thought it was real.
The Charlotte-Douglas International Airport resumed normal operations after about two hours.
The security official ''thought that he or she observed the image of a weapon in (a) passenger's carry-on bag,'' said Kathleen Bergen, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta.
Before the screener could take the bag and call law enforcement, the passenger grabbed the bag and went into the area reserved for people who have cleared security screening, Bergen said.
The airport's three concourses were evacuated, and only ticketed passengers were allowed to re-enter, she said. During that process, the screener identified the passenger and the toy gun was found, she said.
The evacuation was orderly in spite of the busy pre-holiday crush. ''There were a lot of passengers when this occurred,'' Bergen said.
