A Frontier passenger is now facing criminal charges after deputies say he claimed he had a bomb in his bag while boarding a flight from West Palm Beach to Philadelphia Tuesday evening.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies arrested John Magee, 66, of New Jersey, on charges of making a false report concerning planting a bomb, an explosive, or a weapon of mass destruction after a passenger told a flight attendant that he had made a bomb threat while they were boarding, according to the probable cause affidavit.
The witness said she had stood two people in front of Magee on the jet bridge when she saw him slamming a large bag repeatedly on the ground while saying “You don’t know what you’re in for,” and “I have a bomb in the bag,” according to the affidavit.
The flight was scheduled to depart at 5 p.m. Instead, Terminal C at Palm Beach International Airport was shut down for about two hours while Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies, Bomb and Arson Squad detectives and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents responded and evacuated everyone in the area, said Teri Barbera, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office.
A deputy escorted Magee off the plane and asked him if he “had said anything he should not have said while boarding,” according to the affidavit.
He replied “no,” then said, unprompted, “I didn’t say any dumb sh** like blowing up a plane,” the affidavit states.
Barbera said officials checked two bags, and found no threat after searching the Frontier flight and concourse. Terminal C reopened to passengers shortly before 8 p.m.
The Frontier flight, Flight 2346, was delayed until Wednesday morning, according to Jennifer de la Cruz, a spokesperson for the airline.
Several flight passengers wrote in tweets Tuesday night that they were sitting on grounded planes or that the terminal was closing and they weren’t being told why. Another passenger said in a tweet his flight was told there was “unusual security activity.”
One person whose relatives were at the airport wrote in a tweet that the relatives deplaned and were moved to “a secure place.” A photo posted to Twitter shortly after 6 p.m. showed passengers standing behind yellow crime scene tape in the concourse.
All flights scheduled to depart from Terminal C were delayed, said Nicole Hughes, a spokesperson for the West Palm Beach airport, but she did not know how many.
Magee is being held in Palm Beach County Jail awaiting bond.
