A 48-year-old airport contract employee has been arrested after police said he tried to bring an unloaded firearm and knife into a secure area of Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport, Target 12 has confirmed.

 

Nathan Brown, of Warwick, was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm without a permit and possession of a weapon other than a firearm, according to a police report.

 

Police said the firearm, a .40-caliber Glock 22, was found after Brown was stopped for a random security inspection.

 

“When informed his bag needed to be searched, he replied, ‘I need to drop something off first,’” police wrote in the report. When Brown was told the bag needed to be searched first, he “admitted he had an unloaded pistol in the bag,” according to the report.

 

Police confirmed there was no ammunition in the bag. Brown told TSA agents he did not mean to bring the gun to work and had forgotten he put it in his bag a few days earlier.

 

Brown was taken to the airport police station, according to police. While he was being processed, police said they found a knife with a 4-inch blade.

 

Brown has an active concealed-carry permit in Washington state, according to police, but it is not recognized by Rhode Island.

 

Airport spokesperson Bill Fischer said Brown was hired as a contract worker about a month ago. He worked for Airport Operations, according to the police report.

 

Fischer said Brown appeared before a justice of the peace Friday afternoon to be processed on the criminal charges.

 

Possession of a firearm without a permit is a felony in Rhode Island.

 

See more at wpri.com.