A teenage boy who was tackled on a JetStar flight at Avalon Airport in Melbourne by passengers and its captain has been remanded into custody in western Victoria, Australia
A teenager who managed to get onto a flight allegedly armed with a shotgun before he was tackled by passengers said six terrifying words as he was taken down.
Several people were already in their seats and preparing for take off on the JetStar flight at Avalon Airport in Melbourne when the youngster arrived, although it is not believed he had a ticket. He was arrested and appeared at Children’s Court today where he was remanded into custody after declining a bail application, news.com reported.
The boy is said to have told them “I’ve got bombs in my bag” as he was taken down on the flight. It is alleged he stole two 12-gauge shotguns from a property in western Victoria earlier the same day.
It was earlier reported a passenger spotted the shotgun protruding from the teenager’s jacket when he got aboard the plane. Barry Clark said: “He got more agitated and more agitated, I looked up and within a second I saw a barrel of a shotgun and I thought to myself, ‘That ain’t a tool that should be on a plane.
“In a split second I saw the barrel, but when I saw the complete gun I said, ‘We’re in trouble here.’ Then I saw it towards her chest and I thought, ‘Well I’ve got to do something.’
“So I got up quietly, he had his back to me, the young girl was facing me and the gun was visible. I knew if I went to the side and pushed the gun away from him, at least if it went off, it would go off on the side of the plane and there was no one there.”
A spokesman for JetStar said earlier: “We are working with police and airport authorities as they investigate a security incident at Avalon Airport on Thursday. The safety of our passengers and crew is our number one priority and we can confirm there were no reported injuries.
“We know this would have been a very distressing situation and we are sincerely grateful to the customers who assisted our crew to safely manage the situation.”
The teenager will return to court at a date yet to be confirmed.