Dawn Gilbertson, Kristen Carver and Andrew Romanov, Maribel Castillo and Sean Holstege

The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX — Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport reopened its busiest terminal three hours after a manhunt for a shooting suspect caused a lockdown of Terminal 4, a ground stop and lengthy air travel delays Thursday afternoon.

The manhunt began around 3 p.m. PT after a shooting at a suburban Tempe gas station that wounded one man.

A red Pontiac Grand Am that fled the shooting at a Shell station led police on a high-speed chase to Sky Harbor, authorities said. There, the three occupants vanished. What followed were scenes of congestion and frustration at the airport and surveillance images of a shirtless man running from police.

A man and a woman were arrested in connection with the Tempe shooting shortly after they arrived at the airport. Police announced that the shirtless man had been taken into custody about 45 minutes after Terminal 4 reopened at 6 p.m. Police did not identify the suspects.

During the drama, flights continued to arrive and depart at Terminals 2 and 3. But no flights departed from Terminal 4 during the chase, affecting flights involving American Airlines/US Airways, Southwest Airlines, Air Canada, WestJet and Volaris.

By the time Terminal 4 operations resumed, 69 outbound flights had been delayed and another 13 canceled, according to online air travel tracking service, FlightView.com. The site listed 11 cancelled departures, plus 33 delayed and another 19 diverted to other airports between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The Federal Aviation Administration reported no ripple delays throughout the air traffic system. Often when delays cripple a busy airport, particularly a hub like Sky Harbor, it can cause a cascade of delays regionally or nationwide.

Only flights that were boarding when the police situation began were allowed to depart from Terminal 4 late Thursday afternoon, according to an airport statement. Incoming flights were permitted to land, but passengers could not deplane.

All pre-security passengers in Terminal 4 were asked to leave the terminal and were bused to the PHX Sky Train Station at 44th and Washington streets, where they could be picked up by friends and family members. The airport asked passengers not to come to the airport if their flight was out of Terminal 4.

As police blocked the terminal entrance during the search, passengers on an airport shuttle bus wondered whether they'd make their flights.

"They stopped at Terminal 3 and told us to get off and didn't tell us why," said Lynn Gerber. She was in town on business and had a 4:55 p.m. US Airways flight back to Long Beach, Calif.

Phoenix Police Department personnel and officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety assisted in the search.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is one of the 10 busiest airports in the nation for passenger traffic with $79 million in daily economic impact, according to its website.

More than 1,200 aircraft and 100,000 passengers arrive and depart from Sky Harbor each day.