Hobby Airport, in South Houston, was placed on lockdown after a TSA dog that was on a routine patrol alerted authorities to a piece of luggage according to Megan Howard, the Tactical Operations Division Commander for the Houston Police Department in a press statement. The incident occurred at about 9 a.m. on Friday, July 8, 2022.
According to Commander Howard, TSA followed protocols and alerted the Houston Police Department which then sent out the bomb squad to investigate. Houston Airport was also notified and worked to block off the area where the piece of luggage was while redirecting passengers to another part of the airport in order to reroute passengers. Some customers did miss their flights after the lobby was closed while bomb techs worked to determine what was inside this piece of luggage.
It turned out to be a false alarm. Commander Howard stated that after the bomb techs determined the package was deemed not a threat. Howard also stated that there turned out to not be anything suspicious in the bag, just normal “everyday things” and electronics.
When asked why the dog was alerted to a false alarm, Commander Howard stated that sometimes, like a human, dogs make mistakes as well. She also stated that there was nothing else suspicious about the bag itself, which was a carry-on bag. The only thing that was suspicious was the dog alerting on the bag. The owner of the bag who was nearby fully cooperated with authorities throughout the investigation. The owner did end up missing her flight and had to be rescheduled.
