Security concerns raised after bullet strikes Southwest Airlines flight on Dallas runway
DALLAS — There are still more questions than answers as to how a Southwest flight departing for Indianapolis was hit with a bullet Friday night on the runway at Dallas Love Field. No one was hurt on board, but concerns are being raised about a larger security threat.
"But now it's happening in the United States, in Dallas, Texas, where we live. That's concerning to me," said Jay J. Armes III, an international private investigator and security expert based in Dallas.
Armes said this 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.
Armes, who has decades of experience with international threats, admitted this 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, though, is not a terrorist threat.
"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.
