How much did one man, armed with a long-range assault rifle, cost San Diego?
What began as a domestic disturbance call, turned into a five-hour long standoff Wednesday between SDPD SWAT members and an armed man. The threat to public safety prompted police to close several city blocks, halt incoming air traffic to San Diego International Airport and tell businesses and residents nearby to shelter in place.
Both the San Diego Police Department and the Airport Authority say there’s no real way to put a dollar figure cost on all the commotion and affected flights.
A spokeswoman for the airport says 140 flights were impacted, including cancellations, delays and diversions.
Whether it was postponed vacation plans, or people late getting to connecting flights, or people late getting home, yesterday’s shooter, Titus Colbert, 33, cost a lot of people a lot of time and frustration.
“We have to wait now,” said Susan Degroot on Wednesday, who was trying to get home to Michigan. “They’ve got us on a flight tomorrow morning at 6:20 a.m., and we will finally get into Grand Rapids tomorrow at 3 p.m.”
But, exactly how much did the entire incident cost?
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“It’s a great question,” said Lt. Scott Wahl with the San Diego Police Department. “Beyond the life safety issues; other impacts come with these types of incidents, and we are attuned to that. We try to be as accommodating as possible. Obviously, people are evacuated from their homes. Their lives are disrupted.”
Both SDPD and the Airport Authority say there’s no hard dollar figure on taxpayers will foot because of Colbert.
An airline expert says each grounded flight during a bomb threat can cost an estimated $22,000.
Multiply that with the 140 impacted flights, and you could estimate at least $3 million in wasted fuel, crew time costs, and delayed baggage costs, the expert said.
But nothing compared with the alternative.
“I’d rather us not go up than something happen and ‘Ooops, sorry,’” one passenger said.
An airport spokeswoman said any cost estimates are just speculation.
She also reminded travelers to continue checking san.org for flight information until normal operations resume.
