Lawyer: DFW passenger who boarded plane with gun forgot she had it

By Andrea Ahles

aahles@star-telegram.com

A 65-year-old Addison attorney with a .38-caliber revolver in her carry-on bag went through a security checkpoint at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on Wednesday morning and boarded an American Airlines flight, which left its gate bound for Houston, authorities said.

During the hunt for the bag's owner, the plane was ordered to return to the terminal.

After searching for about 11/2 hours, officers arrested the passenger, later identified as Judith Kenney of Little Elm, in Denton County, officials said.

Authorities had combed Terminal D, carrying a photo of the bag's owner taken by a security camera at the checkpoint.

Officials said the gun was loaded.

The incident delayed 10 flights, and the checkpoint was briefly closed.

But it was not cause for general alarm, aviation security expert Bruce Schneier said.

"They really made her day miserable, and if she was a terrorist, they would have caught her," Schneier said. "Which means the whole gun system is working great, even if there is a failure."

It is unreasonable to expect airport security to be perfect, he said.

Guns in carry-on bags are spotted 9 times out of 10, he said, so terrorists are unlikely to bring guns into airports given the high chance of being caught.

In 2011, the Transportation Security Administration, the federal agency responsible for airport security, reported finding more than 1,200 firearms in carry-on bags, some of them loaded.

At DFW, 96 cases were reported of people being stopped with weapons in 2010, the latest year for which figures are available.

Terminals searched

The incident Wednesday began about 6:20 a.m. at the checkpoint near Gate 26 in Terminal D. Screening officers detected a "questionable item" as several carry-on bags passed through the scanner.

Before they could determine which bag the item was in and who owned it, a passenger had picked up the bag and walked away, according to TSA spokesman Luis Casanova.

He declined to elaborate on why the bag wasn't immediately stopped.

Using the closed-circuit television system, officials got a photo of the passenger and distributed it to airline and airport staff.

"We had people stationed at the counters as the passengers were walking through, so we had the opportunity to view them and match them against the photo," Casanova said.

Officers with the DFW Department of Public Safety swept all five terminals in search of the passenger but concentrated on Terminal D.

During the search, the airport's SkyLink tram system bypassed Terminal D, DFW Airport spokesman David Magaña said.

Flights were ordered back to gates.

Ten flights were delayed an average of 20 to 25 minutes each, American spokesman Ed Martelle said.

Magaña declined to say why officials didn't evacuate and rescreen all passengers in the terminal or why passengers weren't prevented from getting on planes during the search for the weapon, Bloomberg News reported.

The passenger was found about 8 a.m. aboard American Flight 2385 at Gate D31.

"Our officers found her on a plane and pulled her off," Magaña said.

The flight was scheduled to depart for George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 7:05 a.m., Martelle said. Instead, it took off at 8:25 a.m.

Magaña said the passenger faces a third-degree-felony charge of "places weapons prohibited."

In 2010, 96 arrests under the state statute were made at DFW.

Five people were convicted. In 35 cases, the Tarrant County district attorney's office did not pursue charges. Other cases are pending, Magaña said.

Kenney, an attorney with an office in Addison, was released from DPS custody Wednesday afternoon.

She did not respond to a message left on her phone.

Her attorney, David Finn, told KXAS/Channel 5 that Kenney's concealed-handgun permit expired this month and that she forgot that the gun was in the bottom of her computer bag along with a power supply and other items.

"Clearly she made an honest mistake," Finn said. "But did she knowingly or intentionally break the law? The answer is not no. It's hell no."

This report includes material from Bloomberg News and KXAS/Channel 5.

Andrea Ahles, 817-390-7631

Twitter: @Sky_Talk

Looking for comments?