Suburban Man Charged With Trying To Bring Gun Into Midway
(CBS) -- A 34-year-old southwest suburban man is the latest to be arrested for trying to carry a loaded handgun through security at Midway Airport.
It was at least the fourth such incident this month and seventh this year at Midway.
A Transportation Security Administration screener spotted the gun about 7:50 a.m. Tuesday while X-raying a bag belonging to a man who was identified by police as Jose Perez, of Palos Heights.
TSA personnel detained Perez at the airport for Chicago Police, who seized the handgun. Prosecutors charged him with attempting to carry a concealed firearm in an airport, a misdemeanor.
Perez has a valid firearm owner's identification card, but that does not entitle someone to carry it on board a plane.
He was released on bond, pending an appearance April 17 in Br. 4-4 (51st and Wentworth).
On March 6, 29-year-old Candace Bunch, of Markham, was charged with felony boarding an aircraft with a weapon. She carried a .38-caliber Smith& Wesson revolver loaded with six rounds.
The next day, 46-year-old Kurt Young, of Tampa, Fla., was charged with misdemeanor carrying of a concealed weapon when going through security prior to a flight to Atlanta. He carried a .380-caliber Jennings Bryco Model 58 loaded with seven rounds.
On March 16, the Rev. Sieon Roberts of Gary's New Hope Missionary Baptist Church was arrested at security for concealing a loaded Taurus 9mm pistol loaded with 10 bullets; he was charged with a misdemeanor.
Roberts had intended to board a flight to New York's LaGuardia Airport. He is active in anti-violence campaigns in Gary.