Atlanta airport checkpoint chaos: Man grabs gun, it goes off

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ATLANTA – A rider awaiting a hunt astatine the Atlanta airport's main information checkpoint reached successful his container and grabbed a firearm, and it went off, causing chaos among travelers and prompting a impermanent FAA crushed halt connected flights Saturday afternoon, officials said. The antheral fled.

The man, aboriginal identified arsenic a convicted felon, ran with the weapon from the checkpoint and escaped retired an airdrome exit, the Transportation Security Administration said. Authorities said it was not an progressive shooter incidental and described the discharge arsenic accidental.

Police said aboriginal they had issued a warrant for the apprehension of the passenger, 42-year-old Kenny Wells.

The airport's constabulary commander, Maj. Reginald Moorman, said Wells was being sought connected charges including carrying a concealed limb astatine a commercialized airport, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, discharging a firearm and reckless conduct.

“We are actively pursuing this idiosyncratic arsenic we speak,” Moorman said astatine a quality briefing Saturday evening with TSA and airdrome officials.

The discharge caused a frenzy connected societal media arsenic alarmed travelers posted videos to Twitter and different sites showing and describing moments of chaos and disorder astatine Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, 1 of the nation's busiest.

Authorities said 3 radical suffered insignificant injuries, including 1 idiosyncratic who fell successful the airport's atrium country distant from the checkpoint, and 2 complaining of shortness of breath. Police said they had to enactment assemblage power until things calmed.

A TSA authoritative said nary 1 was shot.

“We were fortunate that erstwhile the firearm went off, nary 1 was earnestly injured," Robert Spinden, the TSA's manager of national information for Georgia, said astatine the airdrome briefing. Officials didn't instantly disclose the benignant of limb involved.

Social media users reported determination were agelong lines afterward and missed flights for some. The incidental came up of the highest Thanksgiving vacation question play arsenic radical are inactive coping with the concerns of safely traveling during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the FAA ordered a impermanent crushed stop, airdrome officials said operations ne'er ceased and the airdrome didn't close. They said the airdrome returned to mean operations successful nether 2 hours.

The TSA connection said it each began erstwhile the rider was astir to acquisition a container hunt by an authoritative astatine 1:30 p.m. astatine the airport's main checkpoint aft an X-ray scan detected what was described arsenic a “prohibited item."

“He advised the rider not to interaction the property, and arsenic helium opened the compartment containing the prohibited item, the rider lunged into the container and grabbed a firearm, astatine which constituent it discharged. The rider past fled the area," according to the statement.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported societal media users rushed from the airdrome successful the chaos aft proceeding the weapon going off. One video posted connected Twitter showed radical moving retired of the terminal, immoderate anxiously glancing back.

After Atlanta constabulary gave the all-clear mean operations resumed astatine the airdrome earlier 3:30 p.m. TSA said each passengers had to beryllium re-screened.

The TSA said the incidental underscores the value for each passengers of checking idiosyncratic belongings for unsafe items earlier leaving for the airport. Passengers caught with firearms astatine airdrome checkpoints look a civilian penalty. The TSA says firearms whitethorn beryllium allowed successful checked baggage erstwhile they are unloaded and packed successful a locked, hard-sided case.

Last month, national officials reported a spike successful firearm seizures astatine Atlanta’s airport — portion of a grounds twelvemonth for the fig of guns detected astatine airdrome information checkpoints.

The TSA said it seized 391 firearms astatine Hartsfield-Jackson airdrome successful the archetypal 9 months of 2021. That was up from 220 past twelvemonth erstwhile rider counts were down importantly due to the fact that of the pandemic. But it besides was a large leap from 2019, erstwhile 323 firearms were seized successful Atlanta.

Across the nation, the TSA said, it had stopped 4,495 hose passengers from carrying firearms onto their flights by Oct. 3 of this year, surpassing the erstwhile grounds of 4,432 firearms caught astatine checkpoints successful each of 2019.

The agency's quality merchandise past period noted the grounds came contempt a continued dip successful passengers due to the fact that of the pandemic. Authorities did not connection an mentation oregon mentation astir the spike successful weapon seizures.

Hartsfield-Jackson is 1 of the nation’s busiest airports, though different U.S. airports rival its rider screening numbers. Dallas Forth Worth International Airport was 2nd connected the TSA’s list, with 232 firearms seized by Oct. 3.

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