1 Police Officer Dead, 1 Wounded in Shooting at Philadelphia International Airport: ‘Heartbroken’

One officer was killed and another was wounded during a shooting at the Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday evening, according to police.

Interim Commissioner John Stanford toldNBC 10andFox 29during a news conference that the two off-duty airport officers were arriving to work in the parking garage just after 11:00 p.m.

Kyle Mazza/TheNEWS2 via ZUMA Press Wire

He then explained that “they exited their vehicles” and “observed a few individuals breaking into another vehicle within the parking garage area.”

“The officers approached to essentially disrupt and investigate what’s going on,” Stanford continued. “At that point, the suspects opened fire on the officers, striking one of our officers multiple times in the upper torso, striking the other officer in the arm.”

The unidentified officer who died was with the police department for 22 years and also married with a child, Stanford shared. He added: “As you can imagine, they are heartbroken and devastated that their family member is not coming home tonight.”

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“A numb moment for us to encounter something like this,” he said during the news conference. “You can imagine what we feel, you can imagine what this department is going through.”

The shooting prompted the closure of the airport’s Terminal D, along with the parking garage for Terminals D and E, shortly after 11 p.m., Heather Redfern, the city’s Department of Aviation spokeswoman, confirmed to PEOPLE. Additionally, five planes kept passengers onboard for about 30 minutes.

Redfern also confirmed that access to the garage was fully restored at about 7 a.m. Friday morning.

“Anger, devastation and heartbreak are the emotions,” Sanford wrote onX(formerly known as Twitter). “One officer gave his life tonight and one is recovering. Please wrap your arms and prayers around their families and our department. We will continue our search for those responsible and won’t stop until all are in custody.”

source: people.com