St. Charles man charged with bringing gun into O'Hare Airport due in court
A man will appear before a judge on Monday after police said he brought a loaded gun onto a flight at O'Hare airport in April.
Besnik Ismajlaj, 53, of St. Charles, was charged with a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed firearm at the airport.
On April 15, a TSA spokesperson said one of their officers detected an image of a firearm during screening at Security Checkpoint 2 at Terminal 1, but before police could confiscate the gun, Ismajlaj reached inside the X-ray machine, grabbed the bag, and left for his flight.
It was learned that TSA agents acknowledged seeing the gun on the X-ray machine, but did not alert police until after the passenger had already been cleared through security and boarded his flight. An incident report added that it happened "during a shift change."
Police body camera footage showed officers confronting him on the plane and then taking him off the plane with a gun in his backpack.
The CPD incident report states police asked the Cook County State's Attorney's office for upgraded charges against Ismajlaj, but the request was denied.