(CNN) — Authorities are searching for the man who escaped an Atlanta airport security checkpoint after a gun was unloaded on Saturday, frightening travelers and temporarily disrupting flights at one of the world’s busiest airports, the weekend. week before Thanksgiving.
Authorities believe the gun that was fired at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was in a bag that belonged to Kenny Wells, a passenger who police say fled with the gun in hand.
Wells, 42, is wanted on arrest warrants charging him with carrying a concealed weapon at a commercial airport, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct, said the Commander of Atlanta Police Department Airport Precinct Reginald L. Moorman.
“We are actively pursuing this individual,” Moorman added.
Kenny Wells.
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Guns at Atlanta Airport
It is illegal for people to carry firearms through security checkpoints at US airports, according to Page Pate, a Georgia criminal defense attorney and constitutional attorney.
In the first 10 months of this year, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) intercepted 4,650 firearms – most of which were loaded – at security checkpoints, beating the record for the entire year. year of 4,432 established in 2019.
At the Atlanta airport, 450 firearms have been detected at checkpoints so far this year, the TSA said Saturday.
What happened?
Saturday’s incident unfolded around 1:30 pm, when the passenger’s luggage was flagged for a “secondary search” after an X-ray check at the security checkpoint detected a “prohibited item,” he explained. Robert Spinden, TSA Federal Security Director for Georgia, during a press conference.
“During that secondary search, the passenger pounced on his luggage, grabbing a firearm that was inside, which eventually went off,” Spinden said. “The passenger then fled the security check through an adjacent exit lane with his firearm.”
“We are fortunate that when the firearm went off, no one was seriously injured,” added Spinden.
Three wounded
The incident left three people with non-life-threatening injuries, TSA officials said. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that the wounded were not shot, but were injured while evacuating the airport. The firearm was discharged into the luggage of the person who brought the weapon, the source said.
All of the injured were adults, two of whom were taken to hospital, according to the source.
Airport spokesman Andrew Gobeil called the discharge accidental, adding that the loud noise created a “sense of chaos.” The investigation into what happened is ongoing, he said.
The scare came a day after the TSA screened more than 2.2 million travelers at airports across the country on Friday, the largest volume of screening for a single day since the covid-19 pandemic began. an agency spokesman said.
Videos show chaos at Atlanta airport
The discharge of the weapon sparked panic at Atlanta International Airport, where federal aviation officials decreed a brief ground stop for outbound flights.
Videos from inside the airport and eyewitness accounts illustrate the confusion and fear that ensued.
In a video posted by Stephoń Stafford, line separators are knocked down as people lie on the ground in an apparent attempt to seek protection while hearing someone yell, “Get down.” Stafford said he was about to go through security with his son.
Another video that Haşmet Asilkan shared on Twitter from outside the airport shows many people running in an uproar as someone is heard yelling at people to run.
Dianne Callahan was traveling with her son and had boarded her flight to New York. He said he heard screams outside the plane as the crew closed the door. He also heard sirens, Callahan said, and didn’t know what was going on.
“It was an extremely tense situation,” he said. “People were pushing to get on the plane that wasn’t even on our flight. That’s how scared they were.”
Callahan and his son were sent back through security, he claimed.
CNN’s Melissa Alonso, Raja Razek, Taliah Miller, Justin Lear, Pete Muntean, Dakin Andone, Keith Allen, David Williams, Nadia Romero and Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.
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