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Man charged with trying to take loaded handgun on flight from Missouri airport

By Carol Cratty, CNN
updated 10:30 AM EST, Fri December 30, 2011
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Feds: The man first said he was returning the gun to his brother in Arizona
  • Then he changed the story, saying he hadn't known the gun was in the bag
  • Authorities also found more than $26,000 in the bag

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Kansas City, Missouri, man was charged Thursday with attempting to take a loaded handgun onto a Delta Air Lines flight.

Anthony Winn was arrested Wednesday after an airport screener using an x-ray machine saw the image of the weapon and alerted police at Kansas City International Airport, federal authorities said.

According to a criminal complaint, Winn had a Glock 9mm in a carry-on bag and it was loaded with 23 rounds, including one live round in the chamber. Officers also found more than $26,000 in cash stuffed in the pockets of jeans in the bag and almost $5,000 in the pants he was wearing.

The court document says when the gun was discovered Winn claimed his brother left it at his house and that he was going to return it to him in Tucson, Arizona. But Winn allegedly changed his story later and said he was taking the bag to Arizona to give to a friend and that he hadn't known that either cash or a weapon were inside.

"If I knew that there was a gun in my bag, I would not have tried to take it on the plane," Winn told officers, according to the criminal complaint.

Winn, 26, also was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to the filing, he had previously been convicted of two counts of burglary and unlawful use of a weapon.

Winn made a brief court appearance Thursday and will remain in jail at least until a detention hearing next week. A message left for a lawyer appointed to represent him was not immediately returned.

Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Kansas City, said the case is still under investigation, but said "there's no indication of terrorism."

"This year alone, TSA has detected over 1,200 firearms at checkpoints across the nation, as well as many other weapons," said Kristin Lee, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration.

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