Man Caught With Gun, Knife At Airport

[BEER980]

FBI Questions Man Caught With Gun, Knife At Airport
Man Allegedly Tried To Board DC Flight With Weapons

COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Late Thursday, the FBI was questioning a 65-year-old man of Middle Eastern descent who was arrested at John Wayne Airport Thursday for allegedly attempting to bring a loaded handgun and a knife onto a United Airlines flight to Washington, D.C., authorities said.

At about 1 p.m., airport police notified the Orange County sheriff's terrorism joint task force that "a routine check of luggage through the X-ray machine revealed a handgun in the luggage of a 65-year-old man of Middle Eastern descent," said Orange County sheriff's Lt. Hayward Miller.

"A subsequent search of the luggage revealed that there was a loaded handgun," Miller said. The man, whose name was withheld pending investigation, was "detained by the Transportation Security Administration and our joint terrorism task force representatives," Miller said.

The suspect was arrested for "attempting to bring a loaded firearm into a secured area of an airport." The suspect also had a knife "of unknown length and type," Miller said, but declined to say where the knife was found.

The suspect was taken to the Santa Ana Men's Central Jail, where he was booked on a "variety of charges, including possession of firearms and bringing firearms into a secured area of an airport," Miller said.

It was unclear "at this point in the investigation" whether the suspect faced terrorism-related charges," Miller said at about 10:30 p.m. Thursday, adding that the investigation was ongoing.

Authorities declined to release the flight number on which the suspect was booked.

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[Guest]

Malicious intent or not, it is good it was caught during the screening.