A man fled New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers found a 9 mm handgun loaded with seven bullets in his carry-on bag on Monday.
TSA discovered the weapon on the airport checkpoint X-ray machine’s monitor and asked the man to step aside, at which point he fled, escaping the terminal and jumping into a taxi.
Officers alerted Port Authority Police, who confiscated the man’s carry-on bag along with the gun.
The Brooklyn resident ultimately revealed his identity to authorities by leaving behind his New York State learner’s permit, passport and boarding pass along with his pull-handle carry-on bag, duffle bag, shoes, vest and some cash.
“Fleeing the checkpoint does this man no good,” said John Bambury, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport, in a statement accompanying Wednesday’s announcement. “It was foolish of him to run. We know who he is and he now faces a stiff financial federal civil penalty.”
Typically, a first offense for carrying a loaded handgun into a TSA checkpoint is $4,100, but fines can reach as high as $13,000 depending on the circumstances.
Passengers are allowed to travel with firearms so long as they are unloaded, properly stored in a hard-sided case, locked and declared in checked baggage separate from any ammunition.
