TSA agent death causes Confusion and panic at Orlando airport

An off-duty Transportation Security Administration officer fell to his death Saturday from a hotel balcony inside Florida's Orlando International Airport, officials said, sending confused travelers scattering past security checkpoints unscreened and causing flight delays.

There were varying descriptions about what happened. Orlando police said a man in his 40s jumped, in an apparent suicide, from the Hyatt Regency Hotel onto an atrium floor in the main terminal at about 9:30 a.m. ET.

TSA spokeswoman Jenny Burke identified the man as an off-duty TSA officer, and said he fell from one of the multilevel hotel's balconies, which overlooks an area where people line up for one of the airport's security checkpoints.

The man was found in critical condition and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. His name was not released, and further information on what led to his fall wasn't immediately available.