Passenger grabs gun from luggage, accidentally fires it at Atlanta airport, officials say
A convicted felon accidentally fired a gun at a security checkpoint at an Atlanta airport on Saturday, Nov. 20, officials said.
Around 1:30 p.m. an X-ray scan detected a “prohibited item” in a bag at the main security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to a statement from the Transportation Security Administration. An officer was searching the luggage when the passenger “lunged into the bag and grabbed a firearm.”
The passenger “accidentally discharged” the gun as he reached into the bag, Robert Spinden, TSA’s federal security director for Georgia, said during a news conference on Nov. 20.
TSA said the incident was “not an active shooter event.”
After the gun went off, the passenger ran from the area and out of the airport, according to TSA.
The Atlanta Police Department said it is looking for the passenger, identified as 42-year-old Kenny Wells.
Maj. Reginald Moorman, commander of the airport section at the police department, said during the news conference that police have taken out warrants against Wells for “carrying a concealed weapon at a commercial airport, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, discharging a firearm and reckless conduct.”
Spinden said that when the gun went off, “nobody was seriously injured.”
Three people were reportedly injured during the incident, but none of the injuries were associated with the self-evacuation from the airport, Michael Winfrey, deputy chief of airport operations, said at the news conference.
One person was transported to a hospital, Andrew Gobeil, a spokesperson for the airport, said. Officials did not provide specifics on the injuries, but Gobeil said “there was one person who tripped away from this incident” but that he doesn’t know if it was connected to the incident.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement to McClatchy News that it instituted a ground stop at the airport between 1:38 p.m. and 2:13 p.m. During a ground stop, “flights that are destined to the affected airport are held at their departure point.”
Police gave the all-clear around 3:20 p.m., TSA said, and the agency “began rescreening passengers at that time.”
Gobeil said the airport did not close down during the incident and that it “maintained operations at all time.”
TSA said its officers have “detected more than 450 firearms at ATL checkpoints in 2021.”
“This incident underscores the importance of checking personal belongings for dangerous items before leaving for the airport,” TSA said in its statement. “Firearms, particularly loaded firearms, introduce an unnecessary risk at checkpoints, have no place in the passenger cabin of an airplane, and represent a very costly mistake for the passengers who attempt to board a flight with them.”
This story was originally published November 21, 2021 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Passenger grabs gun from luggage, accidentally fires it at Atlanta airport, officials say."
