Loaded handgun found in purse at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport checkpoint

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Loaded handgun found in purse at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport checkpoint

Jeff Himler | Friday, September 3, 2021 8:05 p.m.

Courtesy of Transportation Security Administration

Transportation Security Administration officers confiscated this loaded handgun from a woman’s purse on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021, at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity.

A Cambria County woman was stopped by Transportation Security Administration officers on Friday when they discovered a loaded gun in her purse at the security checkpoint at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity.

It was the fifth handgun caught at the airport so far in 2021, up from three found in 2019. Just one was found in 2020, when passenger numbers were down because of the covid-19 pandemic.

The woman, who lives in Ebensburg, was given a gate pass to meet an inbound passenger. She was carrying a .38-caliber gun loaded with six bullets, according to the TSA.

TSA officers alerted Westmoreland County Park Police, who questioned the woman. She could face a federal civil penalty of between $3,000 and $13,910 for having a loaded gun at the checkpoint.

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