An elderly woman was arrested at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas on Wednesday after she managed to get through security and board a passenger plane with a gun, federal officials said.
The incident happened at approximately 6:20 a.m. local time when 65-year-old Judith P. Kenny, of Little Elm in Texas, passed the security screening checkpoint near the airport’s gate D-30 and then proceeded to board American Airlines flight 2385, which was scheduled to fly to Houston.
Kenny was carrying a 0.38-caliber revolver inside a carry-on bag.
Greg Soule, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), said the weapon had been detected by officers but that Kenny was able to leave the checkpoint before the screening process was complete and prior to surrendering the firearm.
“To ensure the safety of the traveling public, TSA worked with local law enforcement to locate the passenger and firearm before the plane departed,” Soule said. It took authorities more than 1.5 hour to find the woman as police reviewed closed-circuit video to get a description of her and search all five terminals.
At around 8 a.m. local time, officers found out the woman had boarded American Airlines flight 2385, which had just left the gate and was preparing to take-off. The plane returned to the gate and the woman was pulled from the aircraft and taken into custody, the airline said.
Few details about the incident were released, but Kenny is believed to have forgotten the gun was in her bag. Police have charged the woman with a third-degree weapons felony and she was later released.
