

An insulin pump mistaken for a gun at LAX led officials to delay boarding and screening Friday morning at Terminal 4 as airport authorities searched for a woman who they thought had a weapon, law enforcement sources said.

The incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. as the female passenger was being screened at Los Angeles International Airport. She went through electronic screening, which detected an item shaped like a weapon, the sources said.

But before screeners could search her, she walked away toward the boarding gates. Concerned Transportation Security Administration officials immediately alerted LAX police and the LAPD of a possible security breach.

Sources familiar with the incident said security staff scrambled to determine what happened but eventually realized the "weapon" was actually a medical device.

The woman was briefly detained and questioned. Authorities delayed some passengers boarding for up to an hour, according to sources.

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-- Andrew Blankstein

twitter.com/anblanx

Photo: Lights at the entrance to Los Angeles International Airport. Credit: Los Angeles Times