Man claims to have flight attendants hostage at Daytona Beach airport

Deputies figured out quickly the situation did not appear to be real

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – On Monday, investigators in Volusia County said someone placed a call into the Sheriff's Office's non-emergency line, claiming to be holding hostages at Daytona Beach International Airport.

The caller claimed to have three flight attendants as hostage and wanted a $20,000 ransom.

Sheriff Mike Chitwood told News 6, thankfully there were red flags with the validity of the call that helped deputies figure out quickly that the situation didn't appear to be real.

"I have three people hostage," the person is heard saying to the operator.

The caller claimed to have three British Airlines flight attendants as hostages in the lobby of the airport.

Deputies at the airport already knew that British Airlines doesn't fly into Daytona Beach International and there weren't any flight attendants present at the airport at the time.

"The intention was to have a full response from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office and the Daytona Beach Police Department to come out here and create a scene," said Chitwood.

Chitwood also said that thankfully his agency only needed to deploy a couple extra deputies to help check things out, but said that the situation could have been a lot worse.

Since the call was placed into the department's non-emergency line, the operator wasn't used to dealing with emergency situations, however she stayed calm during the call.

Detectives with Volusia County and the FBI are now working to determine who made the call.
 


About the Author:

Troy graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. He has reported on Mexican drug cartel violence on the El Paso/ Juarez border, nuclear testing facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory and severe Winter weather in Michigan.

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