“I seen about like 25 cops, SWATs, like a lot of cops, assault rifles,” one traveler told WSVN 7News. “Don’t go outside, nobody’s allowed to go out, it’s an active shooting.” It was not, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said afterward, but for a tense stretch on Wednesday afternoon, September 23, 2026, nobody at Miami International Airport could be sure.
The sheriff’s office got reports of shots fired around 4 p.m. Witnesses described diving behind parked cars outside the terminal. They also, according to the Miami Herald’s reading of the arrest report, pointed deputies straight to the man responsible, who was sitting on the second floor of the short-term parking garage.
What deputies found
Francisco Ivan Mendiola, 31, is homeless. A deputy saw him on a bench with a semiautomatic handgun, loading a magazine, then firing a shot toward the terminal, the report says. Deputies reached him fast, detained him and took the gun, which by then was in his backpack. The deputy who secured it said the magazine was not seated, yet when she racked the slide a round came out.
Four spent casings lay near the bench. Investigators said Mendiola fired four times: three rounds hit a trash can and one went through the windshield of an unoccupied Dodge Challenger. Nobody was reported hurt. Inside the backpack were two 16-round magazines, each loaded with 12 rounds. Security video showed him walking from the Flamingo garage to the short-term garage with a backpack that matched.
The arrest report describes him as heavily intoxicated. Court records show a petit theft conviction this summer, after he took seven Buzz Ball alcoholic drinks from a Fresco y Mas supermarket in June.
Panic inside the terminal
The response caused its own disruption. The WSVN witness said travelers were kept from leaving the terminal or even getting off planes. Deputies closed the departures entrance and sent everyone down to arrivals. Airport employees were seen leaving buses and walking to the terminals to reach work. “I saw a lot of people are running, especially the police,” traveler Tariq Elmasaoudi said.
In bond court
Mendiola appeared Thursday morning before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer. She read the counts: one of shooting a deadly missile, one of unlawful discharge of a firearm in a public place, and two of criminal mischief. The deadly-missile charge is a second-degree felony.
His public defender argued there was no probable cause on that count, since nothing showed he was shooting into a building and he hit a trash can. The prosecutor answered that he fired toward an occupied terminal. “And it’s always occupied, with a lot of people,” Glazer said. Bond was set at $26,000, and Mendiola stayed in custody. He had been booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Sources
- Shots fired toward Miami International Airport, MDSO said | Miami Herald
- Man accused of drunkenly firing at MIA terminal from parking garage faces charges, including felony – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale
