What? So everyone is guilty of a serious crime unless we can prove that they didn't? helenny said that he should be punished as if he committed a serious crime because he could have had weapons. But he didn't. Ya know what? You could have gone and been a straw-man purchaser of guns for terrorists last weekend. We have no way of knowing that you didn't, so you should be arrested.
No, I didn't mean that he should be punished for a crime he didn't commit. I was only pointing out that such a crime as his ignoring security could have been less innocuous than some had suggested, so the terminal shutdown was necessary.
The airport had to shut down the terminal because security had no way of knowing whether the man had anything that wouldn't pass security checks. The man ran away from security. The terminal shutdown wasn't an overreaction. Similar large airport terminal shutdowns for security breaches by selfish individuals have occurred before September 11th. They weren't considered overreactions; they just didn't garner as much interest as this case. (unfortunately, I don't have any examples handy.)