Pittsburgh International Airport Contractor Caught With Loaded Gun

FINDLAY TOWNSHIP, PA — The Transportation Security Administration intercepted a gun from a Pittsburgh International Airport air carrier contractor Saturday. The 9mm handgun was loaded with 12 bullets, including one in the chamber.

It was the third firearm that TSA officers have detected so far this month at one of the airport security checkpoints. Two weapons were seized on the same day last week.

“This is an instance where our TSA officers stopped what could have been an insider threat, someone who was approved to have access to secure areas of the airport,” Gerardo Spero, TSA’s federal security director for Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “This individual’s airport credentials have been confiscated and deactivated, without which he cannot work at the airport.”

Spero added: “Everyone who wants access to the secure side of the airport is responsible for the contents of their carry-on bags. That includes everyone from travelers to airport, airline and concession employees and contractors.”

Last year, TSA officers intercepted 42 guns at the airport’s checkpoints, the most of any airport in the state.