LOS ANGELES – A motorist with 16 guns and at least 700 rounds of ammunition in his pickup truck was arrested Friday at a vehicle checkpoint as he entered Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said.
The weapons and ammunition were in a container in the back of the man's truck, which was stopped by airport police officers at a major entrance to the passenger terminals area, said airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles.
The 47-year-old man's identity was not immediately released.
Only one of the weapons, a revolver, was loaded, airport police Sgt. Jim Holcomb said.
The man was arrested for investigation of felony transporation of an assault rifle, he said.
Police initially reported that 37 weapons were found in the truck. Castles said that count was an estimate based on the number of containers in the truck, which did not all contain weapons.
Holcomb said there was no indication the man was out to do any harm at the airport and was apparently there to pick up someone.
"He just made a very bad decision and should not have been carrying those weapons," Holcomb said.
Airport police routinely set up vehicle checkpoints at roads leading into the airport's central ring roads, but Castles said it is rare to find so many weapons at once.
The FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Los Angeles Police Department are investigating whether the weapons were properly registered.
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