Posted on 06/25/2004 12:29:48 AM PDT by tallhappy
FBI Questions Man Caught With Gun, Knife At Airport Man Allegedly Tried To Board DC Flight With Weapons
POSTED: 11:27 pm PDT June 24, 2004 UPDATED: 11:40 pm PDT June 24, 2004
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.
I was somewhat surprised they promptly clearly stated this man who tried to bring a gun on board to a flight to Chicago and then DC, I believe, was of "middle eastern descent."
Hadn't seen this yet. Thanks for the post.
This article below from AP is usually more common -- it leaves out completely that he is middle eastern. This despite the airport spokesman saying int eh statement on the arrest that he was of middle eastern descent.
_____
SANTA ANA (AP) -- Authorities say a man was arrested at John Wayne Airport in Orange County Thursday after he was found with a loaded gun and a knife at a security checkpoint.
Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino says the 65-year-old man was detained at about 1:30 p.m. after a standard X-ray screening of the bag revealed the weapons.
Officials say the man was set to board a 2 p.m. United Airlines flight bound for Washington D.C. with a stop in Chicago.
Sheriff's officials say the man was booked on charges of possessing a loaded gun and attempting to carry a loaded gun into a secure area of the airport. He's being held at Orange County Men's Jail.
Amormino says authorities "have no reason to believe this is terrorism-related, but there's going to be an ongoing investigation."
I would say this sounds a little suspicious but some people would say I was racist so I won’t. ;)
May be I missed something.
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.
Nope. I didn’t think so.
He's just following his religion.
Good point. The way the AP story reads, he may as well have been a grumpy old white guy, made to be felt sorry for by the left. As far as the left is concerned these incidents are all Bush's fault.
"Al-K-Duh!"
I like the way you spell that!
I'm in OC, and recall the muslim fanatic that drove his taxi to LAX, went to Israel air desk, and murdered some people not long ago.
OC is today a melting pot, with plenty of these middle east, muslims.
And I don't trust any of them.
I only trust the dead ones.
" The only good Japanese is a dead Japanese. We want to make all Japanese good Japenese"
- Admiral Halsey
Works for me.If the islamofascists were'nt so nutty genocide would'nt seem so palatable.Let's win now and let history decide who was right.
He was probably just going to celebrate a wedding.
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