Pilot stops teen who entered a regional airport with guns, demanding a plane
Police are praising the heroic actions of a local pilot who confronted and stopped a 15-year-old who entered Texarkana Regional Airport in Arkansas on Tuesday, brandishing guns and demanding a plane.
The teen walked into Signature Aviation, a business providing aviation services at the airport, on Tuesday morning, armed with a high-power rifle and handgun, and demanded a plane at the front counter while brandishing the guns, according to the airport and the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department (TAPD).
After the teen chambered a round, a staff member was able to flee to a back office and alerted the police, the airport said.
A local pilot retrieved his firearm from his truck and confronted the teen as he breached security onto the airfield, ordering him to get on the ground. The teen complied and was disarmed before police officers arrived and took him into custody. A shotgun was also found in his vehicle, according to the airport.
The unnamed teen, who was not from the area, was arrested for aggravated assault, attempted aggravated robbery, and first-degree terrorist threatening, according to police. He was transferred to an Arkansas juvenile detention center and is awaiting a court date, where the district attorney will decide on formal charges, Kristen Schultz with TAPD told CNN.
Police praised that the incident was “resolved quickly and peacefully, despite the extreme danger presented.” It is unclear what the teen’s motive was, Schultz said.
The Texarkana Regional Airport confirmed on Tuesday it was open and secure and that flights would proceed as usual. “We are very thankful that there were no injuries, no lives lost, but really it was through the actions of this pilot and by the staff at Signature Aviation, that their actions saved lives,” the airport’s director, Paul Mehrlich, told CNN affiliate KSLA.
CNN has reached out to Signature Aviation for comment.
Mehrlich said the airport’s security plan worked how it was supposed to, but they would work to find ways to improve it further. “If you can even shave 10 to 15 seconds off, that can mean more lives saved in the future,” he noted.
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