9 Year Old Discovers Gun Stashed At Lambert Field Airport
May 24, 2008 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
The Saturday before Mother’s Day a Lincoln County family was at Lambert to see relatives off when according to her parents, a 9-year-old girl, while smelling flowers saw a purple rag in the bushes.
Beneath the rag the girl found a handgun and an envelope full of bullets. “It was definitely the last thing I would expect a nine year old to find at an airport,” says the girl’s soon-to-be step-father Charles, who didn’t want to be identified.
According to police reports a passenger tried to bring the gun through security and was stopped and was told what most people already know: guns aren’t allowed to be carried on a plane let alone inside the building. “Especially after 911,” says Charles, “why would anyone try and get through airport security with a weapon.”
The man was cited by TSA but allowed to continue his trip but without his gun. The gun’s owner, according to the complaint, was dropped off at the airport so he didn’t have a car to leave it in and instead of checking the gun he allegedly decided to stash it. “I don’t know why he brought it in the first place he should have just left it at home,” says Charles.
When the suspect returned to retrieve his gun on Mother’s Day he found only the rag and ammo in the bushes. Police had the gun with them and had the suspect under surveillance.
