David McNew/Reuters
An off-duty police officer managed to fly out of Los Angeles International Airport with a gun in her carry-on luggage last week. Officer Noell Grant of the Santa Monica Police Department said she only realized she’d accidentally brought her personal firearm along when she was about to change planes in Taipei. The gun and six bullets had made it through security at LAX undetected, a fact confirmed by the Transportation Security Administration on Thursday. Nico Melendez of the TSA was quoted by the BBC as saying that authorities “determined standard procedures were not followed and a police officer did in fact pass through the [airport] checkpoint with a firearm.” “We’ll hold those responsible appropriately accountable,” he said. Grant informed local authorities in Taiwan of the blunder and has been told to stay in the country, though she hasn’t been charged with any offenses.