Courtesy TSA

ROANOKE, Va.—Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers prevented a Georgia man from boarding his flight at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport with a handgun on Monday (Oct. 24). The .22 caliber gun was loaded with eight bullets. It marked the eighth gun detected by TSA at theRoanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport so far this year. This is the highest number of guns caught at the airport in a single calendar year with two months remaining in 2022.

The TSA officer who was staffing the checkpoint X-ray monitor on Monday spotted the weapon among the man’s carry-on items as they entered the checkpoint X-ray machine. TSA alerted the police who confiscated the handgun and cited the man on a weapons charge. He also now faces a stiff federal financial civil citation for bringing a loaded gun to a security checkpoint.