Security concerns raised after bullet strikes Southwest Airlines flight on Dallas runway
DALLAS – The Dallas Police Department has not given any updates four days into its investigation into how a Southwest flight departing for Indianapolis was hit with a bullet on the runway at Dallas Love Field.
No one was hurt on board Friday night, but a Dallas-based private investigator and security expert said he is concerned about a larger security threat.
Jay J. Armes III said the Love Field incident could either be from a random stray bullet or targeted.
"They [planes] can be targeted when they're landing. They can be targeted when they're taking off. They can be targeted when they're parked. That's a big problem. I mean, how do you control that? How big of a ring of perimeter do you have to establish to prevent an aircraft from being shot? It's difficult," said Armes.
Planes recently shot in Haiti and Mexico
Armes, who has decades of experience with international threats, said the incident in Dallas is alarming, given that there have been multiple recent shootings at airplanes in both Haiti and Mexico.
"There's a possibility of a copycat, someone copying the activities of what happened, especially with what's going on in Haiti right now. I mean, what if they start doing that across the country? We've got a big problem if that is allowed to take root," said Armes.
Armes said he thinks this incident was not connected to terrorism.
"My gut instincts tell me that this was not an act of domestic terrorism, and I don't believe that the airplane was targeted specifically in the sense that they were trying to take down this aircraft. Personally, I believe that this was someone who acted on impulse, is probably a younger person," said Armes.
