Machine gun found in terminal at JFK Airport

JAMAICA, QUEENS (WABC) -- The discovery of a machine gun at one of JFK's largest terminals is raising a lot of questions at this hour. Of chief concern is whose gun is it and how did it get past security?

Earlier Thursday, a Mac-11, subcompact machine pistol was found inside a closet during renovation work at Terminal One, an international terminal used by Air France, Turkish Airlines, Korean Air and others.

Port Authority police were immediately called in to run ballistics on the gun to try and trace where it came from and how long it's been tucked away in an office closet.

An electrician doing work found the machine gun in the ceiling of a maintenance closet. No ammunition was found with the gun.

What is bound to be on the minds of authorities is how did the gunget by security and how long had it been stored in a closet belonging to management.

The Mac-11 is known for how rapidly it can discharge its 32-round magazine. It takes less than two seconds.

We have placed calls to The Terminal One Group Associates, which manages the terminal. We have not heard back from them.

Port Authority police are investigating but are "not even slightly" concerned that this is part of some plot.

They released the following statement:
"At 10:10 Am today a contractor running cable in the ceiling of a management office at Terminal #1 at JFK found a case in a storage closet containing a Mac-11 subcompact machine pistol. The office which is locked and accessible only to a few people is located OUTSIDE the terminal's secure area. The contractor immediately called Port Authority Police which took possession of the weapon. The PAPD is investigating whether the weapon is operable. No ammo was in the gun nor found near the weapon. "

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