Armed Citizen® Today
An armed teenager who entered a private-aircraft terminal at the Texarkana Regional Airport was disarmed and held at gunpoint by an armed pilot, who was later praised for his quick response and decisive action by local law enforcement officials.
The teen, who was armed with a handgun and a rifle, entered the terminal at about 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 4, and demanded a plane. A staffer in the private terminal told the teenager she would help him but entered a back office and called 911. Frustrated by the lack of action, the suspect left the terminal and went out onto the airfield.
A pilot on the airfield retrieved a firearm from his truck, confronted the teen and ordered him to the ground, and the suspect complied. The pilot held the teen at gunpoint until local law enforcement arrived on scene. The suspect was taken into custody and faces charges of aggravated assault, attempted aggravated robbery and terroristic threatening in the first degree.
"The Texarkana Arkansas Police Department applauds the heroic act by the local pilot," police said in a news release. "The fact that this incident was resolved quickly and peacefully, despite the extreme danger presented, is highly commendable." (New York Times; Texarkana, Ark.; 2/4/25)
From the Armed Citizen® Archives – March 1982
A pair of thugs started beating Woodrow Wilson Glanton of Newark, N.J. They took his wallet, his money and his car keys. But the 69-year-old Glanton drew a .25-cal. semi-automatic pistol and opened fire, hitting one of the criminals in the chest and killing him.
The other robber was wounded by an irate relative of the dead man when he reported the crime and the killing. (The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.)
