NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — A New Jersey man was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Friday for driving to John F. Kennedy International Airport earlier this week to meet his estranged wife after he sent her a menacing video with visible guns in which he said he would “shoot up” the transit hub when she got in from an overseas trip.
Darnell King, 39, was arraigned on a 12-count indictment charging him with criminal possession of a weapon, making terroristic threats and other related crimes, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced.
“These criminal charges prove, yet again, that there are too many people carrying illegal firearms and too many people willing to use them,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said. “It is clear that our immediate, coordinated efforts this week thwarted an entirely senseless, untold tragedy.”
According to the charges, just before 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 30, King’s wife was inside Terminal 5 at JFK having just returned from an international expedition. She received a text message and video from the defendant, saying that he was driving to the airport and recording his “last will and testament.”
King, of Paterson, threatened a mass casualty event, stating: “I am going to wait for the plane to leave, and that is when I am going to start shooting the airport up. This is a day in history that you and everybody will always remember.”
Prosecutors said that in the video a black and silver gun was visible in the car’s front passenger seat.
At about 9:30 a.m., the victim received another video showing King standing at the rear of his vehicle at JFK. “I don’t know what makes you think that I was lying, I am here,” he said in the video.
“There is no telling just how many lives were saved” by the multi-agency response that ensued, Katz said. Officers from both the Port Authority Police Department and NYPD responded to Terminal 5 and apprehended the defendant at a nearby Resorts World Casino in South Ozone Park at 11:50 a.m.
A search warrant was executed on King’s car, and officials found a Taurus 9 mm handgun and a Taurus .40-caliber handgun, both with bullets in the chamber and more in a magazine. Law enforcement also recovered an additional two bullets from the vehicle’s cup holder and an air pistol loaded with multiple pellets.
“Thanks to the swift response of our officers and law enforcement partners, we prevented a potentially dangerous situation at a very busy travel hub,” Port Authority Chief Security Officer Greg Ehrie said.
King could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted and is expected back in court on May 28.
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