Armed 15-year-old who demanded plane at Arkansas airport is arrested

A 15-year-old boy who brandished a gun and rifle at an airport in Texarkana, Ark., on Tuesday morning and demanded a plane was arrested after a pilot retrieved a firearm from his truck and ordered him to the ground, according to local police. The teen complied and was disarmed by the pilot during a confrontation at Texarkana Regional Airport, the authorities said. Officers from the Texarkana Police Department arrived soon afterward and arrested the youth. “The Texarkana Arkansas Police Department applauds the heroic act by the local pilot,” the agency said in a news release, without naming the pilot. “The fact that this incident was resolved quickly and peacefully, despite the extreme danger presented, is highly commendable.” The minor was carrying a handgun and an AR-style rifle, according to the airport, and was charged with aggravated assault, attempted aggravated robbery and terroristic threatening in the first degree. He was transferred to a juvenile detention center, according to police. The confrontation began just after 7:30 a.m. when the 15-year-old walked into a private facility at the airport run by Signature Aviation that functions as a terminal for jets and other private aircraft. The boy, whose name was not released, placed a gun on the front counter at the terminal, demanded a plane and cocked his rifle, according to Paul Mehrlich, the airport’s director. A staff member told the boy that she would help, then went into a back office and called 9-1-1, Merlich said. Frustrated, the 15-year-old then forcefully pushed open a door leading out to the airfield, Mehrlich said. That’s when the pilot confronted him. Mehrlich applauded the terminal's staff and the pilot for acting calmly to stop the suspect.<br/>