A passenger plane has been hit by a bullet near the cockpit as it was preparing to take off at an airport in Dallas.
The bullet struck the right side of the Southwest Airlines jet just under the flight deck around 8.30pm local time on Friday (2.30am on Saturday UK time).
Flight 2494 was cancelled with the aircraft removed from service.
Passengers safely left the commercial plane as it was returned to the gate at Dallas Love Field Airport in Texas with another flight planned for them.
No injuries were reported in the incident involving a Boeing 737-800 aircraft which suffered some damage as it was taxiing.
The jet was preparing to fly to Indianapolis International Airport when the gunfire happened.
In a social media post, Dallas Love Field Airport said the city’s police department responded and runway 13R/31L was closed, but reopened later on Friday night with “minimal impact” on the facility’s operations.
According to a Southwest Airlines spokesperson, the “bullet apparently struck the right side of the aircraft just under the flight deck”.
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The plane scare happened just days after two commercial aircraft were hit by gunfire over the capital of Haiti.
A Spirit Airlines flight was just metres from landing in Port-au-Prince having come from Fort Lauderdale in Florida, when gangs shot at the plane, injuring a flight attendant.
Footage on social media, which is believed to have been filmed by an airline employee, appeared to show the hole where a bullet had entered the aircraft near the back door and struck overhead lockers.
The plane was diverted and landed in the Dominican Republic and all flights in and out of the Toussaint Louverture International Airport were halted, the US embassy in Haiti said.
Shortly after, a JetBlue flight was struck by a bullet as it took off from the capital towards New York.
The airline said its Flight 935 arrived later than scheduled without reporting any issues, but a post-flight inspection identified that the exterior of the aircraft had been hit.
