TSA Officers Stop Flight Attendant From Boarding Plane With Loaded Gun

Image: Philadelphia International Airport. (photo via narawon /E+)
Image: Philadelphia International Airport. (photo via narawon /E+)
Rich Thomaselli
by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 12:50 PM ET, Tue September 19, 2023

This one is something of a head-scratcher.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents caught a person trying to bring a loaded handgun onto a plane.

In this day and age, that’s kind of dog bites man, ho hum news, right? Some might even say that’s what the agents are supposed to do. Catch the bad guys.

What if we told you that the person trying to bring a loaded gun on an airplane was an airline employee?

True story.

TSA agents were able to stop someone from getting on a flight at Philadelphia International Airport carrying a loaded .380 handgun. That person was a flight attendant.

"We are always on the alert for any possible insider threats," said Gerardo Spero, TSA's Federal Security Director for the airport. "Both of these were good catches on the part of our team."

He was referring to an incident earlier this month in which TSA officials intercepted someone carrying a loaded gun. It was the second time in three weeks and 31st this year in which a person tried to sneak a handgun through security in Philadelphia.

This latest incident happened on Friday, September 15. The flight attendant, who allegedly carried the gun, was detained, arrested and arraigned. 


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Rich Thomaselli

Rich Thomaselli

Associate Writer

Editor Associate Writer true 9281 14744 Rich Thomaselli has written for TravelPulse since 2014 and has been a professional journalist for nearly 40 years. His work has appeared in USA Today, the New York Times and New York Yankees publications. He is an 11-time writ

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