Flight diverted after man threatened with cutter knife

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Atlanta, GA — A commercial flight from Cincinnati to Tampa was diverted to Atlanta Friday night.

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A Frontier Airlines flight made an unscheduled landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and police detained an unidentified person. Authorities later found his second cutter in the suspect’s belongings. No one was injured in this incident.

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Lillian Hoffman, who was on board the plane, said the suspect threatened to harm passengers with the cutter.

“As he was about to go to the bathroom, a passenger in the window seat looked at me and said, ‘He had a knife and told me he was threatening to stab people.’ I need to say something to someone,'” Hoffman told WLWT News. “So I spoke to the flight attendants at the front of the plane and let them know that this guy had a box knife and he said he wanted to stab people.”

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Following the emergency landing and arrest of the suspect, the airline disembarked all other passengers and canceled the flight.

Cutters are prohibited on airplanes. It was not immediately clear how the suspect got the instrument on board. In a statement, the Transportation Security Administration said it had launched an internal investigation into the incident.