The officer, described by the Orlando, Florida, police as a man in his 40s, had just clocked out of work before jumping from a balcony of the Hyatt Regency in the airport atrium about 9:30 a.m.
Jenny L. Burke, a spokeswoman for the agency, confirmed that an off-duty TSA employee had fallen from a balcony inside the airport and died. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the officer’s family, friends and everyone in our TSA family,” she said.
Police said on Twitter that “preliminary information suggests an apparent suicide.”
The sound of the man crashing to the floor caused passengers to flee unscreened into a restricted area, Burke said. Crowds of passengers were being rescreened on Saturday afternoon. Officials said flight operations were starting to return to normal about 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a halt to inbound flights that was lifted at 11:30 a.m.
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Michael Bawol, 32, was traveling home to Halifax, Nova Scotia, when he saw a man standing on the outer ledge of a balcony on the top floor of the hotel, he said.
“He turned and faced the main hall, extended his arms to the side and let himself fall,” Bawol wrote in an email.
Adults and children began crying when they realized what had happened. TSA agents rushed in and guided passengers to the terminal exits. Paramedics tried to revive the man before moving him to a stretcher.
Police said the man, whose name was not released, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
During the partial government shutdown, TSA workers at several major airports around the country were working without pay and began to call in sick in increasing numbers.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.