Woman stabbed at MIA, almost thrown over balcony; man arrested

MIAMI — A woman is fighting for her life at the hospital after she was stabbed "multiple times" and almost thrown over a balcony in an unprovoked attack at Miami International Airport late Saturday night.

Just after 11:30 p.m., uniformed officers were called out to the International Arrivals section of Terminal J regarding a stabbing.

Miami-Dade Police stated early Sunday morning that the woman and a man were on the fourth floor when he suddenly "attacked her by stabbing her multiple times and attempted to throw her over the railing."

The woman was able to escape from the man and ran downstairs to the third floor, where officers found her. Additional responding officers took the man into custody on the fourth floor and recovered the knife.

A video shared with CBS News Miami shows the woman sitting down in the waiting area and bleeding. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded and transported the woman to JMH Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition.

A witness told CBS News Miami that several flights were arriving when the incident happened, and people were either trying to help the woman or ran away when they heard what happened.

"We heard the escalation of a fight," the witness said. "And somebody said 'run!' So, you literally had a line of 100 to 200 people easily because we had just come off the plane."

Many who were there at the time of the attack were shocked that it happened in such a congested part of the airport.

"There was a lot of people saying how it was really scary telling their kids to pick up their stuff and everyone was running," another witness told CBS News Miami.

Miami-Dade Police Detective Angel Rodriguez told CBS News Miami that the airport briefly shut down services in the area during the incident and evacuated Terminals J and H, but has resumed normal operations.

"There were people that were conducting business in the airport while this happened," he said. "And so, it's expected that it can create some sort of chaos."

The airport also shared a statement on X regarding the incident, reiterating that the situation at the terminal was now "under control."

"We want to assure the public that the situation is under control and the safety of our passengers, staff, and visitors remains our top priority," MIA stated. "Authorities responded immediately, and the situation was swiftly contained."

Meanwhile, officers had also received reports of a possible active shooter on scene but they were able to determine that was not true after further investigation.

Detectives are currently talking to the man as the investigation continues. Police have not identified the woman and man, nor released further details about the stabbing.