Man arrested after fake airport bomb threat in Fort Lauderdale
A traveler at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport falsely said he had a bomb in his bag Sunday after he had “trouble using a kiosk to check into his flight,” the Broward Sheriff ’s Office said Monday. Tyler Baeder, 27, of Rhode Island, remains in jail on Monday afternoon on one count of false reporting concerning planting a bomb, explosive, or weapon of mass destruction and one count of resisting an officer without violence, jail records show. The threat caused part of Terminal 1 to be evacuated and closed for hours Sunday evening, causing some to miss their flights and creating traffic havoc, according to posts from airport officials and travelers shared on X.
Shortly before 5:30 p.m. in Terminal 1, Baeder was struggling to use the kiosk and allegedly said, “Call the cops, I have a bomb in my bag,” the Sheriff ’s Office said in a news release. An airport employee reported the threat immediately to Transportation Security Administration, who then notified the Sheriff ’s Office.
Baeder was detained for questioning immediately and the terminal was evacuated, the Sheriff ’s Office said in a news release Sunday evening. It took about three hours for Bomb Squad and Threat Management Unit detectives to clear the scene and to announce that the threat was unfounded.