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The incident took place at a security checkpoint on Friday, Feb. 10 at the airport.
According to TSA officers, the unidentified woman was nabbed while she was escorting a minor to their gate. The .22 caliber gun was loaded with nine bullets, including one in the chamber.
The woman, identified as Andrea Valdovinos, was not ticketed to fly. She received a “gate pass” from the airline to allow her to escort her minor child through the checkpoint and to their gate, TSA said.
However, Valdovinos was prevented from doing so once the TSA officers detected the gun and the police were notified.
TSA officials said the gun was caught as the woman entered the security checkpoint. The X-ray unit alerted on the carry-on bag, which required a closer inspection. The firearm was removed by the Port Authority Police who confiscated the gun and arrested her.
Valdovinos was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and carrying a loaded firearm, said Port Authority Police.
In addition to being arrested, Valdovinos now faces a stiff financial civil penalty for bringing a gun to a TSA security checkpoint. The penalty for carrying weapons recently increased to a maximum of $15,000.
This was the first firearm that TSA has detected at the airport so far this year. Last year, TSA officers prevented seven firearms from getting through checkpoints at JFK Airport. All of them were loaded.
Last year, 6,542 firearms were caught at 262 out of 430 airport security checkpoints nationwide. Eighty-eight percent of those guns were loaded, TSA said.
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