Officials say a man escaped from John F. Kennedy International Airport after Transport Security Administration (TSA) officials picked up a 9-mm gun loaded with seven bullets in his carry-on baggage on Monday.
While the man’s hand luggage was being examined at the checkpoint, TSA officials located the gun on the X-ray machine’s monitor and asked the man to move away, at which point he fled.
The police were alerted and determined that the man ran out of the terminal and got into a taxi. The police confiscated the man’s handbag with the gun.
TSA has the man’s identity because when he ran away, he left behind his small handbag, a backpack, his shoes, a vest, some money, his New York state student license, his passport and his boarding pass .
A Brooklyn resident in New York, the man received a ticket to fly to Atlanta with several companions. Authorities interviewed the man’s fellow travelers before allowing them to take the flight.
A typical first offense for carrying a loaded gun at a TSA checkpoint is $ 4,100. The penalty can reach up to $ 13,000, depending on the mitigating circumstances, and that individual did not cooperate with the authorities when he was caught with a gun. Civil penalties for weapons brought to the airport apply to travelers with or without a firearm permit, because even though an individual may have a firearm permit, this does not allow a firearm to be loaded onto a airplane. If that traveler is a TSA PreCheck member, that person will lose TSA PreCheck status for a period of time.
TSA is reminding passengers that they are allowed to travel with firearms in checked baggage, as long as they are properly packed and declared. Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a rigid box, locked and packed separately from ammunition. The case must be taken to the airline’s check-in counter for handing over the weapon. Then it will be placed in the belly of the plane for transportation.