A St. Charles passenger caused a stir at O’Hare Airport Tuesday afternoon when he grabbed his gun from the X-ray screening tunnel and walked into the terminal with it Tuesday afternoon, leading to his arrest.
Besnik Ismajlaj, 53, was charged with a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed firearm at the airport, Chicago police said.
According to a TSA spokesperson, Ismajlaj was a passenger at Terminal 1 when he presented his property for screening at approximately 12:20 p.m. and the security officer detected the image of a firearm inside the bag.
TSA policy in these instances is to keep the bag with the firearm inside the X-ray tunnel and contact Chicago police, but before police could arrive to take possession of the firearm, Ismajlaj reached inside the X-ray machine, grabbed the bag, departed the checkpoint and went into the terminal area, the spokesperson said.
Screening operations at Terminals 1 and 2 were suspended while TSA and law enforcement partners tracked Ismajlaj’s movements through the terminal area, and police arrested him, the spokesperson said.
Screening operations resumed at approximately 1 p.m.
The weapon was recovered at the scene, and no injuries were reported, authorities said.
Ismajlaj is scheduled to appear in court June 9.