Passengers on Southwest Airlines were unaware plane was struck with gunfire

Passengers on the Southwest Airlines flight struck by gunfire Friday night in Dallas were never told by the airline that their plane had been hit by a bullet, and instead were put on another flight.

The Texas-based travel company seemed to adopt an ignorance-is-bliss policy after gunfire hit the right side of the plane near the cockpit and the entry door as the plane was getting ready to take off around 9:50 p.m.

The pilots made the decision to return to the gate and all passengers were told to exit the aircraft before being put on another plane that same night. 

A Dallas family who was on the Indianapolis-bound aircraft say they would have not boarded another plane if they had known what really happened. 

'That's the concerning part, I think, that they went ahead and chose for us to put us on another plane without our knowledge of the actual events,' passenger Shannon Lee told the local Fox station.

Lee, traveling with her husband and two son, did not learn why they had been forced to return to Dallas Love Field until another passenger told her when they finally landed in Indiana.

'The pilot came on just before takeoff and said that he had heard a rattling outside of the plane and that they were electing to turn back to the gate so that the mechanical team could check out the plane before we took off,' Lee's husband, James, added. 

Authorities are still working to determine if the plane had been targeted or hit by stray bullets.

'The investigation is ongoing, and we do not have an update to report,' the Dallas Police Department told DailyMail.com.

Southwest explained the second flight to Indianapolis did not take off until police had deemed the airport safe.

'The replacement flight continued to Indianapolis only after the Dallas Police had ascertained that there was no ongoing threat to public safety and the airport authority had reopened the runway for normal operations,' a Southwest spokesperson said in a statement to Fox 4.

'Southwest Airlines has been in contact with the Customers who were aboard Flight 2494 on Friday night.

In addition to offering them vouchers for future travel, we apologized for the inconvenience and stressed that the Safety of our Customers and Crew were our top priority.'

No injuries have been reported and the aircraft has been taken out of service, the airline confirmed.