CLEVELAND (WJW) — The FOX 8 I-Team has obtained exclusive video of an air traveler busted for a gun at a checkpoint inside Hopkins Airport, and we found that’s part of a growing trend locally and nationally.
Police video released to the I-Team shows what happened Christmas morning.
A security agent spotted what looked like a gun in a carry-on bag. A Cleveland police officer came over to check and found a loaded 9 millimeter.
An officer asks the traveler, “Do you have a CCW (concealed weapons) permit?” The man answered, “I do. I don’t have the card on me.”
But when police ran a check, they found the permit had expired.
They arrested Aaron Aber.
In Cleveland, police usually do not arrest someone caught with a gun at Hopkins if they have a valid concealed weapons permit. They seize the gun, and the traveler faces thousands of dollars in civil fines later.
But if the person does not have a permit, Cleveland police make an arrest, take the gun, and the person still faces fines, as well, later.
Last year, security agents at Hopkins found 26 guns. That number went up from 23 the year before.
And last year, nationwide, the TSA says 4,432 guns were found at airports setting a new record.
The TSA says agents are finding more guns since the number of air travelers keeps going up, and the number of people carrying guns keeps going up, too.
Aaron Aber has been indicted for carrying a concealed weapon. He goes to court this week to begin defending himself.
A police report and court records did not have a contact number for him or an attorney.
