A rare and unusual lockdown of the Sault airport

Weapons call prompts a lockdown of Sault airport Wednesday a man experiencing a mental health issue called police threatening to damage the Sault airport after arriving on a recent flight.

An unusual situation led to a lockdown at the Sault Ste. Marie Airport Wednesday evening.

The airport’s CEO Terry Bos told CTV News that police responded to a weapons call – except the call was made by the actual threat.

"We had a gentleman get off of an Air Canada flight and he proceeded into the parking lot. At that point he determined that he would call the police and advise that he was going to do damage inside the airport with a hammer and a hatchet,” said Bos.

“So the police called us, we locked the building for safety reasons, warned all of our tenants and kept everybody inside."

Bos said that the individual did not attempt to re-enter the building, he waited until police arrived at which point he turned himself in.

Airport officials said the officers detained the individual under the Mental Health Act and he was then transported to hospital.

During a search, police located a hatchet, hammer and knives in the person's checked baggage.

No charges were laid in the incident.

Officials with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority said "passengers are permitted to bring tools in their checked baggage."

Police said the incident ended shortly with no physical injuries.

Bos said lockdowns at the airport are very uncommon.

"Many years ago we might have had one incident where somebody called something in, that was again a false alarm,” he said.

“This was very, very rare, especially something like this where a person actually did have some items with them that could have done some damage."

The CEO added the incident did not have an impact on any incoming, or outgoing flights.