Calls reporting shots fired at Southwest Florida International Airport on Memorial Day kept Lee County Port Authority police busy for about an hour and were later determined to be false, a port authority report said.
Information reported to port authority police shortly before 9:30 p.m. indicated multiple people fighting with five people shot in the airport parking garage.
The information describing people and places inside the airport was determined to incorrect, a report said. No shooting victims, injured parties, gunshots, passengers fleeing, damaged vehicles or related evidence was found. Some locations described by the caller, such as a Concourse A, do not exist at the airport.
A similar call attributing the activity to Naples Airport was also found to be false.
The use of multiple phone numbers, allegedly by the same individual, led authorities to believe a cell phone app was being used to change the numbers.
One of the numbers was traced to a personal phone at a residence hall at the University of Rochester in New York. University police checked the phone of a student connected with one of the numbers there. The student gave police his phone and said he never made any calls.
A report on the calls was sent to the FBI for further investigation, the port authority said.