Man charged with attempting to bring BB gun on flight to Atlanta

<p>A 19-year-old man was charged Tuesday with attempting to sneak a BB gun loaded with 14 pellets onto a flight from Philadelphia to Atlanta, authorities said.</p><p>Erik Clark, 19, was detained at Philadelphia International Airport on Monday afternoon after a police officer searched a black backpack and found a BB gun concealed inside a pillow, according to a sworn affidavit.</p><p>Clark, of Allentown, was charged in federal court with carrying a weapon on an aircraft. He was released on recognizance bail, said Rich Manieri, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office in Philadelphia.</p><p>An airport baggage screener summoned a police officer after noticing an object inside a backpack that he believed to be a handgun. The backpack was spotted as it passed through an X-ray machine in advance of a scheduled 2:10 p.m. flight, according to the affidavit.</p><p>Clark, who had a boarding pass for AirTran Airways Flight 333, allegedly told an officer that he had stowed a BB gun in a pillow inside his back pack. The officer, identified as Fred Potter, found the weapon upon searching the bag.</p><p>At the airport, Clark allegedly told FBI investigators that he intended to carry the weapon on the flight to impress his friends with his ability to sneak a gun onto an airplane. He also gave authorities other inconsistent explanations about why he packed the gun into his bag, according to the affidavit.</p><p>Clark was represented Tuesday by an attorney who authorities said is his father. The lawyer, Glennis L. Clark, did not immediately return a message left at his office after business hours, and a home number could not be independently obtained. The Morning Call of Allentown, in a story posted on its Web site Tuesday, quoted him as saying that his son made a really stupid mistake.</p><p>The affidavit from the U.S. Attorneys office lists the spelling of Clarks first name as Eric. But the FBI cited the Erik spelling as the correct one given by an agent who met with Clark on Monday and saw his identification.</p>

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