Chaos at Atlanta airport after passenger accidentally fires gun - The Guardian

Man escaped out an airport exit after firearm went off when he reached in his bag while awaiting a search and grabbed it.

A passenger awaiting a search at the Atlanta airport’s main security checkpoint reached in his bag and grabbed a firearm, and it went off, causing chaos among travelers, officials said.

The passenger ran with the gun from the checkpoint and escaped out an airport exit, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said.

“We were fortunate that when the firearm went off, no one was seriously injured,” Robert Spinden, the TSA’s director of federal security for Georgia, said at the airport briefing.

Last month, federal officials reported a surge in firearm seizures at Atlanta’s airport – part of a record year for the number of guns detected at airport security checkpoints.