Lenoir City woman charged with having gun in carry-on bag

By News Sentinel staff

 

KNOXVILLE — A Lenoir City woman claimed she forgot it was there after a loaded handgun was discovered in her carry-on bag Wednesday night at McGhee Tyson Airport.

An X-ray machine revealed the Ruger .38 caliber firearm — fully loaded with seven rounds in the magazine — inside a soft case placed in a pocketbook belonging to Brittany Grace Shook, age unavailable, according to a Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority report.

Shook was being processed through a security checkpoint at approximately 8:21 p.m. before boarding an Allegiant Air flight to Clearwater, Fla.

The handgun was seized and Shook was cited to court on a charge of possession of a weapon. She is scheduled for an appearance in Blount County General Sessions Court on April 23.

The firearm was the fifth discovered at the airport checkpoint this year, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

Shook's name does not appear on the Commercial Appeal newspaper's state gun permit database that was last updated Dec. 3, 2011.

A total of 17 firearms were discovered by the TSA at the airport checkpoint in 2011, according to the TSA, while nationally more than 1,300 were discovered at checkpoints in 2011.