NEW YORK – A man from the Bronx was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport yesterday, March 7, after the armed man tried to run past Transportation Security Administration officers when they declined to allow him past the security checkpoint.
The incident began shortly after midnight in Terminal 4 when the man failed to present a valid ID when he claimed to be a new airport employee. The TSA officer who was staffing the document checking station challenged the individual to present his airport employee badge, but the man refused to comply with the request. Instead, he rushed past the TSA ticket document checker and placed his backpack on the X-ray belt. He was told by TSA officers to leave the checkpoint because he did not have valid ID or a boarding pass. Instead, the man grabbed his back pack and attempted to push through the TSA security scanning device into the secure area of the airport terminal. TSA officers blocked the area and escorted him from the checkpoint.
TSA officials notified Port Authority Police of the man’s actions and stayed with him until police arrived. Officials were unable to corroborate the man’s claim that he worked in the airport and it was also determined that he was in possession of false identification documents.
At the time of arrest, it was discovered that the man who had tried to get past the checkpoint had a 9 mm handgun loaded with three bullets.