Transportation Security Administration officers stopped a Georgia man from carrying a loaded, stolen handgun and a box of ammunition onto his flight at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday, officials announced.
The gun and boxes of ammunition were packed inside a carry-on bag and were spotted by a TSA officer staffing the checkpoint x-ray monitor when Desmond Lamont Herring, 48, of Sandy Springs, Georgia, tried to board a flight, the agency announced.
When Herring realized that one of his carry-on bags had triggered an alarm and was going to be inspected, he allegedly left the checkpoint with his other carry-on items, and went to his gate, officials said. Port Authority police arrived and confiscated the gun and ammunition.
According to authorities, the gun had been reported as stolen in Georgia.
He was arrested at Terminal B and was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, said Scott Ladd, a Port Authority spokesman.
“This was a very good catch on the part of our TSA officers,” said Thomas Carter, TSA’s Federal Security Director for New Jersey.
So far, TSA officers have detected 14 guns at check points in Newark airport in 2021.
___
© 2021 Advance Local Media LLC
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
