PORTLAND, Maine — Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers found a loaded firearm at Portland International Jetport on Sunday, marking the second loaded gun found at the airport in a span of five days.
TSA officers immediately notified Portland police, who discovered a loaded 9mm firearm with a chambered round in a man’s backpack, according to a release from TSA. Police also found a total of 21 rounds in the backpack, the release stated.
During questioning, the North Carolina resident stated that he meant to leave the firearm in his vehicle but forgot because he was in a rush, TSA said. Police eventually escorted the man back to his vehicle in order to secure his firearm, according to the release.
The gun found Sunday was the third gun detected at the airport this year, which ties the total number of firearms detected at the airport in all of 2022, TSA said. It was the sixth firearm detected at a Maine airport in 2023 and the eighteenth in New England, the release stated.
“Our TSA officers once again are on top of ensuring firearms stay out aircraft cabins,” Oscar De Los Reyes, TSA’s federal security director for Maine, said in the release. “Loaded firearms at TSA security checkpoints present an unacceptable safety and security risk to other passengers."
During the incident last Thursday, TSA said a 60-year-old Mississippi man brought a loaded 9mm firearm, as well as eight rounds, in his carry-on backpack. The man did have a firearms permit and was allowed to check the firearm after being escorted by police to the ticket counter to do so properly, according to TSA.
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