Police search for ex-con after ‘accidental gun discharge’ in Atlanta Airport

The man who owned the weapon the caused the ‘accidental gun discharge’ at Atlanta Airport on Saturday, sparking panic that injured three people and halting flights during Thanksgiving getaway weekend, has been identified as a convicted felon who remains on the loose. 

Kenny Wells, 42, is facing charges of carrying a concealed weapon at a commercial airport, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, discharging a firearm and reckless conduct, police announced. 

‘We are actively pursuing this individual as we speak,’ Maj. Reginald Moorman, the airport’s police commissioner, told The Associated Press. 

Panic erupted Saturday at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – considered the busiest in the world – after reports of an ‘active shooter,’ which officials later said was an accidental discharge. 

Early on Saturday evening, the TSA revealed exactly what happened while noting that three people who were caught up in the panic sustained non-life-threatening injuries. 

The TSA tweeted how at around 1:30pm, Wells’s bag was being searched at the airport’s main security checkpoint.

A ‘prohibited item’ was identified on the X-ray and TSA informed the passenger not to touch his property.

As the TSA officer opened up the compartment of his bag which contained the banned item, Wells lunged into the bag, grabbing the firearm, at which point it discharged.

Wells then made a run for it and fled the area, running out of the airport exit.

The TSA were at pains to point out that it was not  an ‘active shooter’ incident.

The TSA together with the Atlanta Police Department then decided to implement a ground stop preventing flights from taking off or landing at the airport while Atlanta Police investigated. 

… 

Atlanta Airport tweeted that it was an accidental discharge and would be providing more information.

Authorities obtained an arrest warrant for the convicted felon who shut down Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Wells faces charges of carrying a concealed weapon at a commercial airport, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, discharging a firearm and reckless conduct

Many passengers were swiftly evacuated after rumors spread of an active shooter

Terminals were seen empty as people scrambled to get to safety under the perceived threat of a shooting

Chaos appeared to ensue at the Atlanta Airport on Saturday

People were on the ground and seen scrambling for cover in a video posted to social media

At one point in the video, someone screams ‘get down’

The image above shows scores of passengers who quickly evacuated the terminal after rumors spread of an active shooter

The image above shows passengers inside Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta on Friday

Chris Burcky, who was standing in Terminal A at the time the chaos erupted, posted a photo showing Terminal T get evacuated

Stephanie Withers posted a video on Twitter showing several people believed to be with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) running along a highway leading to one of the airport’s terminals

Another witness posted a photo from the airport showing the drop-off section just outside one of the terminals. ‘Shooting inside North Terminal Atlanta Airport l hope everyone gets the change to escape alive the same way l did… running…’ she wrote on Twitter  

Diane Callahan, a passenger on board a Delta Air Lines flight that was about to taxi out of the gate and depart for New York, posted a photo showing a large crowd of people underneath the nose of the airplane that was parked next to her aircraft

The Atlanta Airport also tweeted that it was an accidental discharge of a firearm that sparked panic among passengers and staff.  

‘There was an accidental discharge of a firearm near the main security checkpoint,’ Atlanta police Sgt. Jarius Daugherty told CNN. ‘Officers are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.’ 

When the all clear was given, the airport resumed normal operations and planes were allowed to take off. 

Videos posted to social media showed ensuing panic.

‘Get down,’ someone is heard forcefully shouting as others are seen scrambling for cover on the ground, in a video posted by Jamari Jones.

Someone tweeted they had boarded a plane and then had to ‘close the doors’ due to an ‘alleged active shooter in the terminal.’ 

‘Delta is managing this as professional as always. We are hearing sirens but can’t verify anything. Will keep you up tp [sic] date. Pray!’ wrote Dianne Callahan. 

Callahan, a passenger on board a Delta Air Lines flight that was about to taxi out of the gate and depart for New York, posted a photo showing a large crowd of people underneath the nose of the airplane that was parked next to her aircraft. 

‘The is what I am seeing outside my window. I am at the Atlanta Airport, boarded my flight to New York when we heard screams,’ she wrote.

‘@Delta is trying to calm people down. We heard screams as people were boarding.’  

Chris Burcky, who was standing in Terminal A at the time the chaos erupted, posted a photo showing Terminal T get evacuated.

Another witness posted a photo from the airport showing the drop-off section just outside one of the terminals.

Pictured, an Atlanta Police Officer on patrol inside the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport where a weapon was discharged

Pictured, large crowds inside of the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport

Panic erupted Saturday at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – considered the busiest in the world

Panic erupted at Atlanta Airport after reports of an ‘active shooter,’ which officials later said was an accidental discharge. Police said there were no injuries as of early on Saturday afternoon

 A gun owner fled after his weapon fired by accident at Atlanta’s airport. It sent terrified travelers scrambling onto the tarmac. After it was all over, there was huge lines at security

Police keep watch over passengers as they head into the security lines

‘Shooting inside North Terminal Atlanta Airport l hope everyone gets the change to escape alive the same way l did… running…’ she wrote on Twitter.

Stephanie Withers posted a video on Twitter showing several people believed to be with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) running along a highway leading to one of the airport’s terminals.

‘Atlanta airport employee Shantoria deserves a *major* raise for letting my husband and I jump in her car and driving us to safety amid total (what we thought was) active shooter chaos,’ Withers wrote on Twitter.

‘Hundreds of panicked people screaming and running. Thank you, Shantoria.’

A Twitter user named Johnny posted a photo showing scores of passengers waiting alongside their luggage near the tarmac as Delta aircraft are parked next to the terminal. 

Erika Zeidler, who was traveling from Atlanta to Anchorage, told CNN she was sitting in Concourse T when she noticed panicked people began running down the hallway.

‘We assumed they were late for a flight,’ she said.

‘Then all of a sudden more people started running down the terminal and were screaming there was a shooter.’

No one was injured but the incident halted flights during the busy Thanksgiving holiday period

Picturedm an emergency vehicle outside of Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport

Pictured, the security checkpoint inside the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport where a weapon was discharged

About two hours after the 1:30 p.m. blast in the security screening area at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, officials gave an ‘all-clear’ and flights resumed

Immediate fear that an active shooter had opened fire gripped the crowd, which rushed out of the terminal and onto the tarmac. Afterwards, there were huge lines at security

Hartsfield-Jackson was the world’s busiest airport in 2021, according to aviation analytics provider Official Airline Guide (OAG) may have felt even busier on Saturday after the shooting incident

The Atlanta airport was expected to be particularly busy during the Thanksgiving travel period, with prepandemic-size crowds expected at security checkpoints from Friday, November 19 through Sunday, November 28, the Transportation Security Administration said

The airport was on high alert after Saturday afternoon’s shooting incident

Pictured, an emergency vehicle sits outside of Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport on Saturday

Pictured the security checkpoint inside the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport where a weapon was discharged and a sign that reads ‘No Weapons Beyond This Point’

Pictured, the security checkpoint inside the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport where a weapon was discharged

‘Officials have given an all-clear for #ATLAirport and normal operations are beginning,’ the airport tweeted at 3:24 p.m.

An all-clear was given Saturday at Atlanta’s airport after a gun accidentally discharged in the facility’s security screening area, causing chaos, authorities said

A sign at the TSA  checkpoint in Atlanta Airport warns passengers weapons and firearms are not permitted through security

The discharge happened around 1:30 p.m. at the security screening area, pictured

A police officer keeps an eye on passengers as they pass through the security checkpoint 

The noise sent social media into a frenzy as visitors posted videos to Twitter of the resulting chaos. Long lines are seen after

Lines of passengers snaked around the terminal after reports of an active shooter surfaced

Witnesses also reported that airport personnel ‘shut off all the escalators and cut off all passengers and turned off the tram.’

‘Right now airport personnel is doing a really good job keeping everybody calm,’ Greg Romero, who had just gotten off an arriving flight, told CNN. 

The incident comes just days before millions of Americans are expected to descend on the nation’s airports for travel nationwide during the Thanksgiving holiday.

The TSA said that more than 2.2 million passengers were screened at domestic airports on Friday – the most in a single day since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the winter of last year.

Concerns continue to mount over potential travel chaos over the week of Thanksgiving, with airline labor complaints adding to severe weather and the impact of a vaccine mandate for airport security screeners.

Up to 20 million Americans are expected to fly over the next week, and President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal employees, including TSA workers, takes effect on Monday.

It has raised concerns that sickouts or suspensions over the mandate could cause huge delays at airport security, with only 60 percent of TSA workers vaccinated at last report.

At the same time, long-suffering airline workers are growing increasingly vocal in their protests over pay and conditions, raising the possibility of organized labor actions impacting the busy travel week.

A ground stop temporarily halted flights to Atlanta from other airports around the country

Pictured, large crowds of passengers attempting to exit the main terminal at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport where a weapon was discharged

Neither passengers nor employees were in any danger, airport officials said

The Atlanta airport was expected to be particularly busy during the Thanksgiving travel period, with prepandemic-size crowds expected

Pictured large crowds gathered at the baggage claim inside the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport where a weapon was discharged

Pictured large crowds of passengers attempting to exit the main terminal at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport where a weapon was discharged

There lines in virtually all areas of the airport

There were long lines and check in following the shooting disruption

There were also long lines at baggage claim as passengers waited for some time to collect their bags

And of course, there were exceedingly long lines at the TSA Security checkpoint

‘Pay us or chaos!’ warned flight attendants for American Airlines subsidiary Piedmont, as they walked a picket line outside Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina on Thursday.

Piedmont, a regional carrier wholly owned by American Airlines, told DailyMail.com in a statement that contract negotiations would resume in December. 

Meanwhile, the looming vaccine mandate remains the biggest question mark for the busiest travel week of the year.

The TSA insists that the deadline will not result in any shortage of airport screeners, but the union that represents TSA workers has already publicly pleaded with the Biden administration to delay the mandate until after the holiday season. 

In a letter to the White House this month, the president of the TSA’s union, the American Federation of Government Employees, pointed out that the vaccine deadline for federal employees had already been pushed back to January 4.

‘This double standard has caused confusion and distress among federal employees due to disparate treatment and incongruent deadlines for people who perform the government’s work in the same settings,’ wrote AFGE National President Everett Kelley.

The latest public information about vaccination rates among TSA workers is now more than a month old, so it remains unclear how widespread sickouts and suspensions might be if the mandate is strictly enforced.

On Wednesday, TSA Administrator David Pekoske insisted that he expects agency staffing to be sufficient for what’s traditionally the busiest travel period of the year. 

‘We are prepared,’ Pekoske told ABC’s Good Morning America. 

He said travelers should expect long lines at airports and plan to spend a little more time getting through security. 

Pekoske said he didn’t think a vaccine mandate going into effect for TSA agents Monday would have any effect on staffing for Thanksgiving next week.

Travel experts are advising air travelers to arrive at the airport at least two hours before their scheduled flight, in order to allow for potential delays in the screening process. 

Meanwhile, severe weather could also throw a major wrench in the travel plans of many Americans.

Forecasters with AccuWeather predict that snows may blanket the Great Lakes on Sunday, and a possible bomb cyclone will threaten the Atlantic Coast a day or two later. 

TSA screeners, like all federal employees, face a Monday deadline to show proof of vaccination for COVID-19, raising the potential for widespread sickouts and suspensions

Meanwhile two severe weather systems threaten to disrupt Thanksgiving travel

Two separate systems are forecast next week: A wintry storm that will develop over the Great Lakes on Sunday, and a separate storm will develop off the Atlantic Coast a day or two later

The coastal storm could hook in to New England, developing into a bomb cyclone

It could also hug the coast and move north, mostly impacting coastal cities

‘We could be looking at a huge mess and a real wrench in holiday travel,’ AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said. 

The second storm could hit the densely populated Northeast on the day before Thanksgiving, which is traditionally the busiest single day of travel all year.

That storm has the potential to develop into a bomb cyclone, a severe weather event that would massively disrupt air travel.

High winds, rain and snow all have the potential to further disrupt airline operations that have recently struggled due to staffing shortages.

‘A major storm may significantly compound airport and airline operational challenges that have plagued the air travel industry of late,’ Porter said. 

Travel group AAA forecasts 53.4 million people will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, up 13 percent from 2020, with most travelers going by car. 

Air travel is set to explode from last year’s levels, with 20 million projected to fly, compared to just 10 million last year.

It would still be slightly under the all-time air travel record of 26 million set in 2019.      

Travel experts are advising air travelers to arrive at the airport at least two hours before their scheduled flight, in order to allow for potential delays

Delta Air Lines said it expects to fly up to 5.6 million passengers from Friday through November 30, nearly 300 percent over 2020’s 2.2 million Delta passengers for the period but still below the 6.3 million passengers during the same period in 2019.

United Airlines said it anticipates more than 4.5 million passengers during the Thanksgiving travel period – about 88 percent of 2019 volume.

United said it was adding about 700 domestic flights for Thanksgiving week, and would fly 87 percent of its 2019 domestic schedule in November.

Last week, the Biden administration lifted travel restrictions for fully vaccinated air travelers from 33 countries, including China, South Africa, Brazil and much of Europe.

The United States also last week lifted restrictions on fully vaccinated tourists traveling across land borders from Mexico and Canada.  

The United States also last week lifted restrictions on fully vaccinated tourists traveling across land borders from Mexico and Canada.