Each year as America prepares for Thanksgiving with the family, America’s roads and airports experience their busiest weekend of the year. It was precisely this weekend that a gun chose to accidentally unload in the middle of the Atlanta airport.
At 1:30 p.m., an X-ray scan of a passenger’s bag revealed the presence of a “Illegal object”, which led agents of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to continue the searches in a separate room, explained Robert Spinden, director of TSA Georgia at a press conference.
“During the second search, the passenger looked in his luggage and grabbed a gun that was inside and a shot went off”. Although the shot was accidental, the passenger then fled with his weapon and is now actively wanted.
Chaos in Atlanta
According to CNN, the blast itself did not claim any casualties, but three people were slightly injured in the ensuing panic. The sound of the gun generated a wave of panic, the passengers scampering in all directions. The planes were even banned from taking off for a while.
While gunfire is rare, the discovery of weapons in luggage is a “Huge problem” at US airports, says the TSA. During the first ten months of 2021, no less than 4,650 firearms – mostly loaded – were discovered.
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