ATLANTA — A second box cutter was found in a suspect's belongings after the first one caused a Tampa flight to be diverted to Atlanta on Friday night, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
The plane headed to Tampa, Florida, was initially diverted to Atlanta when a passenger on board the plane was reportedly found with a box cutter, Frontier Airlines said in a statement.
TSA said the passenger was disruptive and caused a disturbance but did not clarify what exactly happened.
After the passenger in question was taken into custody by Atlanta law enforcement and the FBI, they found "a second box cutter was discovered in the passenger’s carry-on."
When going through TSA, the man showed a temporary Ohio driver's license and was approved to go through security screening, according to a statement from TSA. At the security screening, he presented two backpacks into the bin to be scanned.
His items were screened using CT technology with "creates a 3-D image that can be rotated 360 degrees for a thorough analysis," according to TSA. But after TSA reviewed the incident, they found that the image review capabilities of the scan were not fully used, a spokesperson said.
A further investigation showed that the box cutters were not identified by the TSA operator, but his belongings were wanted for further examination, they said. After going through the backpack, TSA found one box cutter. However, the visible blades were removed from the box cutter itself and then handed back to the passenger, a measure that is against standard operating procedure, TSA said. The second box cutter was never discovered by security.
The TSA employees were placed in a training course for further learning on CT image review and physical search practices, according to a TSA official.
A woman on the plane, Lillian Hoffman, spoke with the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati. She says another passenger first alerted her to the passenger carrying the box cutter.
"When he went to go to the bathroom, the passenger in the widow seat says 'hey he has a knife and he’s threatening to go stab people we need to go say something to somebody,'" she said.
Frontier Airlines canceled the flight and removed all of the other passengers. A statement said the passengers were given accommodations for the night and booked on another flight.
One man who said his girlfriend was on the flight said she was scared and that Frontier was not communicating with passengers about the incident.
"I don't know how a guy like that gets on a plane," Aaron Burgess said. "I mean, there's supposed to be so many, you know, barriers to entry on to a plane. And how does that happen? I mean, that's crazy. "
Video from Lillian Hoffman from when the plane landed in Atlanta shows the arrests of the suspect.
The flight's planned departure from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) was at 7:23 p.m. While headed to Tampa, the plane diverted to Atlanta and arrived just before 9 p.m., according to FlightAware.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the flight safely landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport around 8:45 p.m.
There were no reported injuries to passengers or crew members on board Flight 1761; however, the delay has pushed passengers' arrival to Tampa to Saturday morning.
Flight-tracking data shows the plane landed around 10:30 a.m. at Tampa International Airport. All passengers were deplaned and were provided overnight hotel accommodation in Atlanta.