Alexandria Man Arrested with Gun at BWI Airport, TSA Says

PHOTO: TSA officers at BWI detected this 9 mm handgun in a traveler’s carry-on items Friday morning. The traveler, a man from Alexandria, was arrested by airport police. (Photo courtesy of TSA.)

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An Alexandria man was arrested Friday morning at Baltimore Washington International-Thurgood Marshal Airport (BWI) after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers caught the traveler trying to carry a 9 mm handgun past a security checkpoint.

Christopher Thomas Dubberly, 28, was carrying the unloaded gun among his carry-on items when TSA officials detected it as it passed through the x-ray machine, according to the TSA. A Maryland Transportation Authority Police spokesman said Friday afternoon that Dubberly was about to get on a Southwest Airlines flight.

It marked the 14th gun that TSA officers have detected at BWI checkpoints so far this calendar year, which matches the number of firearms that were caught at the airport’s checkpoints during 2014, the TSA said.

Dubberly told TSA officers that the bag he brought to the checkpoint belonged to his wife and that he did not realize that a gun was in the bag, the TSA said.

TSA officers contacted the Maryland Transportation Authority Police who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the firearm and arrested Dubberly on weapons charges and interfering with security procedures. There was no impact to airport operations.

A police spokesman said that if a person has a permit to carry a gun and plans to travel with it, there are protocols that must be followed, including disclosing information to the airline and filling out paperwork ahead of the flight.