from abc news in new york, this is "america this morning." good morning, everyone. we're coming on the news with breaking news out of the middle east. >> an egyptian airplane was hijacked while flying from alexandria to cairo. it was forced to land on cyprus. >> abc's terry moran is live for us in our london bureau for the breaking details. a press conference wrapped up just moments ago in egypt. what did we hear. >> reporter: they're managing this situation right now, as you point out, began a few hours ago, a plane egyptair ms181 taking off from alexandria

although that flight on ridge nated in sab saudi arabia. they don't have the name of the hijacker but the crew taking all precautions when confronted by a man who said he had some kind of explosives on him. he informed the pilot. the plane diverted to cyprus. most passengers have been taken off that plane and we should say it happened in a very calm manner. there was no panic, no running. it's not a militaryized situation. they have taken that plane to a part of the airport, away from term analysis, away from other planes. and right now, we're told there are still several passengers on that plane, four passengers and the crew, as well, and the hijacker. the other thing that we can tell you which has been said

officially is by the president of cyprus, who announced to a news conference he was holding that this is not a matter of terrorism and then he laughed. and said, it has -- it has to do with a woman. media reports that the hijacker is trying to make contact with his ex-wife. who lives apparently in a village near cyprus. and he wants to deliver a letter to her. so, right now, this is a fluid situation. what we know for sure is that egyptair flight ms181 from alexandria to cairo has diverted to larnaca, under the pressure of a hijacker on board who claims he has some kind of explosives. there were americans on that flight. we don't know if all of the americans are off or not. a report earlier that the foreigners, the nonegyptians were kept on board that plane. right now, it's essentially a negotiation, apparently,

according the president of cyprus, it has to do with a woman. >> terry, we don't know the identity of the hijacker, do we have anything further about a motive? >> he wants to deliver a letter and there has been video and pictures from the larnaca airport of a hand sticking out the door of the plane with what looks like a letter, handed off to an official on the stairs outside that plane. so, it seems that this may be kind of a throwback, if you will, back in the '60s and '70s there were a lot more hijackses before airport security got much tougher so there were hijacks about personal issues. this seems to be what this is motivated by, not terrorism we're hearing, directly from cypriot officials that this is not terror related. this is personal. this is a personal drama playing

out on the airport tarmac in larnaca, cyprus, apparently some kind of dispute between a man and a woman with the lives all those passengers and crew on board that plane put at risk for what may be a love story or not a love story. >> quite a love story ending there. it's gone on for several hours now. terry, if he does happen to have a device, what does say about the security that's already been questionable there in egypt? >> last october, the metrojet plane in sigh nay taking off from sharm el sheikh in egypt, full of russians en route to russia, blew up over the sigh sinai. that got a tremendous amount of attention on egypt airport security. they have brought in outside experts, a british company, they're

procedures, they say, and they're toughening up. anyone who has flown through the cairo airport, this plane taking off from alexandria, but it's symbolic security. >> harrowing situation there. we're not sure how it's going to unfold. terry moran live from our london bureau. thank you for that update after the recent terror attacks many are wondering how a passenger got a plane possibly with a bomb. >> moments ago, we spoke with steven ganyard. >> you remember the recent downing of the russian airliner in the sinai. it points to how weak security actually is in egypt, so this certainly isn't surprising that a domestic flight where the security was probably quite poor allowed somebody to get on board with either a weapon or a bomb. >> and, steve, colonel, tell us about the security issues for flights in this particular part of the world. of course, you were mentioning the egyptair or the flight from sharm el sheikh a little earlier

but security at this particular airport in this part of the world. >> it's -- egypt has had a problem with aviation security for a long time. we've seen it tragically pointed out recently. i think one of the things that's interesting here to me is that remember in the '70s and '80s there were lots of hijackings that were done by left-wing palestinian terrorists, the plo, those kinds of folks. this is a very different time. these are usually motivated by religious grievances, radical islamists rather than what we knew in the '70s and '80s as hijackings that were much more left wing ideological and this is also the time of suicide vests and suicide bombings which we didn't always see in the hijackings in the middle east in the '70s and '80s. >> we know that egypt shares a border with israel and we know that egyptian president el sisi has a pretty good relationship with israel considering. what do you think happens in a situation like this and how does israel respond? >> no doubt given the close cooperation between egypt and

israel on security matters that the israelis were alerted early on and they probably have folks en route to cyprus right now. so i think that the israeli capabilities in terms of counter-hijacking and these sort of extremist hostage situations will be called into play. >> and, colonel, you know, i'm not sure how familiar in the early morning hours you are with why this plane may have landed in cyprus. any idea why they would have gone there? >> that's a bit baffling. remember, again, going back to the kinds of hijackings where we saw in the '70s and '80s in the middle east, they would fly to a third country and then ask for ransom or either let the hostages go or blow it up. here cyprus is not unusual but this was a short flight within egypt, from alexandria to cairo, so it's not very far away to get across the mediterranean, so why

they took it to cyprus remains a mystery and maybe it's more politically rather than religiously motivated. but we'll have to wait and see. >> and we're learning right now there were some eight americans on board. we will continue to follow the very latest. up next, the latest on that security scare on capitol hill. we'll have the details. stay with us. for colon cancer? get tested i don't have any symptoms. [female announcer] of cancers affecting both men and women, colorectal cancer is the 2nd leading cancer killer in the united states. and it doesn't always cause symptoms, especially early on.

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together we have saved over 3 million acres of land. a park is a gift that is worth protecting. help support the trust for public land and the gift of parks today. welcome back now to the chaos on capitol hill. police shooting a suspect at a screening area sending families and schoolchildren running for cover. >> the suspect identified as 65-year-old larry dawson is now in critical but stable condition. officers say they opened fire when he pointed what appeared to be a gun. overnight his truck was towed away from the scene, and we're learning that dawson is no stranger to capitol hill police. abc's megan hughes has the latest from washington. megan, good morning. >> reporter: reena, kendis, good morning. that's right.

we understand this suspect, this 66-year-old from tennessee is in stable but critical condition at a d.c. hospital this morning and that's exactly right. he is no stranger to capitol police. chaos in the capitol captured on bystanders' cell phones as shots rang out. >> shelter in place. >> reporter: visitors and hill staffers were told to protect themselves or flee to safety. doors in the capitol barricaded. >> we were just told to get down on the floor, and we were staying -- lying on the floor for about 15, 20 minutes. >> it was like hell broke loose, just police everywhere with guns drawn. people running and screaming. >> reporter: spring break visitors swarmed the streets outside, so did armed police. it all went down at the capitol visitors center, the first point of entry into the capitol complex for tourists. a man approached the conveyer belt and screening machine when suddenly there was a weapon. >> the individual drew what appeared to be a weapon and pointed it at officers. an officer fired and struck the

suspect. >> reporter: the suspect identified as 66-year-old larry dawson was rushed to the hospital for medical treatment. an innocent bystander, a woman about 40 years old, was also injured. police say they found the weapon on the scene. dawson's truck was also being searched and towed away from the capitol. he's been charged with assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a police officer while armed. dawson had previous run-ins with capitol police. a judge told him to stay away after he interrupted a session of the house last fall shouting that he was a prophet. >> i am a prophet of god. >> reporter: at a time when terrorism concerns are high, capitol police are stressing that they believe that this was a criminal act by a single person, nothing more. the capitol visitors center, by the way, will be open for business as usual later this morning. reena, kendis. >> megan hughes, live in washington. thank you so much. and when we come back, we will have more on the breaking news out of egypt. a plane hijacked. we'll have the latest. and also, apple off the hook

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roads will be wet in the upper midwest, the western gulf coast and florida and some for both in northern and new england, as well, but no ash. and if you're flying, airport delays are likeliest in salt lake city. recapping our top story, an egypt airplane has been hijacked and forced to land on an island of cyprus. >> the hijacker keeping four passengers and three crew members, total of eight americans likely on board the flight. the hijacker claimed to have an explosive belt. investigators say they're not sure if it's real. according to a counterterrorism expert, they're likely getting names of everyone. >> they're going through the different options. there's limited options when you have an armed takeover of a plane at a tarmac like this. >> matt, one of first things you do when something like this

takes place in egypt, cyprus, two different countries, how does the u.s. interact at this point. >> from the u.s. perspective the concern is, are there americans on that flight? so, the u.s. officials have run the passenger manifest, tried to determine who's on the plane, if they have access to that information, working with their, you know, our counterparts in egypt and then, really trying to find out if there's any intelligence, scouring intelligence reports, the last 4 hours, 48 hours, to see if there's been any sign of -- any warning or threat that we can point to identify who might be possible. >> how is it possible that someone with an explosive belt could surpass airport security and get on a plane. >> right that's really the question. we justed a the downing of the airplane in egypt out of the sinai recently and this is the

second apparent effort to by pass screening that's been successful, that's a real concern. especially if it's the case that what appears someone with a suicide vest was able to get past the screening ability in that airport. >> it has been a while since we have heard of such a hijacking, when you hear about this what do you think is going on. >> we saw this 30 years ago, we saw many of these types of hijackings in the middle east but we haven't seen that lately, that's not been part of the al qaeda or isis playbook. really, they have been willing to just simply take down planes, blow them up, not to hijack. so, this could be a new, you know, chapter in that playbook, where they're willing to hijack a plane because of the extra, perhaps extra publicity that it generates.

but at this point, it doesn't seem like there have been any demands made here. apple in the middle of a security showdown with the federal government, now off the hook. the fbi says it was able to break the encryption on an iphone without apple's help and it's now dropped its lawsuit. the device was used by one of the san bernardino terrorists and it may contain information useful to the investigation of the december shooting. well, more on our top story coming up, including a convicted murderer back in custody after escaping from prison. and a sandstorm causing a major highway pileup in the west. stay with us. ay with us. ing charge of their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar. but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza®. he said victoza® works differently than pills. and comes in a pen. victoza® is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c. it's taken once a day, any time. victoza® is not for weight loss, but it may help you lose some weight.

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college campus to shut down for a day and residents to stay indoors with the doors locked. police say he was recaptured without incident. in nelsonville. a dramatic rescue captured on camera after a fiery crash in los angeles. good samaritans and police officers saved several people trapped in a burning car following a collision with a bus and four other cars. they ran toward the flames and pulled them to safety before fire crews arrived. at least seven people have been injured. >> dramatic scene there. >> very dramatic scene and thankful for the people who were total strangers that stepped in. >> it could have been worse. well, it all started off as a high-speed chase in houston. it ended with a suspect stuck in the mud. the driver cut through fields and construction sites and then jumped into a muddy river. perhaps hoping to escape by swimming away. instead he needed officers' help and they actually pulled him to shore with a rope. there's no word on what led to the chase. but no one was hurt. >> and he was nude.

we have no idea why he took his clothes off. >> we have no clue but you can see him right there. >> that should be hazard duty pay for those officers. >> more than that probably. we actually want to turn now to a lighter story. a touching moment during a pro basketball game last night. a little boy made his way on to the court so he could give knick star carmelo anthony a hug. >> ah. well, melo said he was shocked to look down at his thigh and see a child standing there. he touched the kid's head for a second before he was shooed off the basketball court there by an official. the fan was sent back to an adult in the crowd. not sure who that was. some fans said it was a highlight of an otherwise dreary game. >> he handled the situation very well. i guess because you're a little pint-size, maybe that helps. >> yes, it does, but he could possibly still shoot better than any knick player. >> still. >> still. >> oh, i don't know. a las vegas resident struck it rich by going someplace else. one of the slot machines at the airport paid out a nearly a $1 million jackpot.

all we know about the winner is that she was someone local on her way out of town. >> lucky folks, huh? well, for those who haven't been there actually we should say the las vegas airport, obviously full of slot machines, and the airport actually raked in some $26 million just from those slots. >> yep. >> and it sold a million-dollar jackpot, so that's pretty rare, i would have to say. >> that is rare, but that's one of the cool things when you get to the mccarran airport there in vegas, you land and you see the slot machines, and you're like, no, no, no, we're going to wait till we get to the strip. see, there's proof right there. >> it happens. >> it happens. >> but no blackjack table at the airport, is that what you're saying? >> no blackjack tables but there are slot machines everywhere. and you can win lots of bucks. i wonder if she returned to the strip after that to go party it up. >> i bet she would. >> absolutely. well, we're going to switch gears, and coming up, we're going to give you the very latest on the breaking news that we're following this morning overseas. a passenger jet hijacked. >> the very latest coming up in just a moment.

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abc7 news begins with breaking news. >> the breaking news is from cypress this morning. seven people are held hostage on an egyptair hijacked overnight. i am natasha zouves. >> i am reggie aqui. it is 4:28. it is tuesday, march 29. now to janet watching story from the newsroom. what is the latest? >> we have just learned eight americans were on pardon the plane. right now there are four crew members and three passengers held hostage. it is unknown if any of the passengers are american. egyptair flight 181 was on a rut from alexandria to cairo and the pilot said that the hijacker forced him to land in cypress when negotiations still underway, but, so far, 52 passengers have been released. you can see them coming down the stairs of the aircraft and boarding a because on runway to be taken to the terminal.

hijacker claims to be wearing an explosive belt. authorities have just identify ied him and the situation is described inside the high beed plane. >> as of now there were no demands. he was talking about having a baby... [ inaudible ] >> we are reporting that he has requested to speak to his ex-wife and she is brought to the airport. there are will reports that he was bluffing and he does not actually have any explosives. authorities say this is not a case of terrorism but, still, a very tense situation. in the newsroom for abc7. >> thank you, janet. >> we will check on the story but, first, a check on the forecast. meteorologist mike nicco? >> good morning, everyone. check out the winds or the lack

of wind compare to yesterday. telephone at sfo and everyone else is 3-7 miles per hour. the tell you can see is what will feel like unlike the wind chill of yesterday. the ferry building has the flags barely moving. start off in the 40s to nearly 50, and a few isolated areas in the upper 30s in the dest valley and by noon we are at 58 to 62 so a narrow margin and 56 at the coast and mid-60s at 4:00, for the bay inland neighborhood and the light jacket in the evening is 52 to 60 at 7:00. >> sue? >> a high wind advisory on the san mateo bridge. so far, it is nice looking drive at 15 minutes across the flat section to the high-rise. no delays there. san rafael is looking great. if you are going from novato through to san francisco about 22 minutes for the drive the we have road work with a major closure of 101 southbound to 116, petaluma