Woman arrested for trying to bring loaded gun into Disney’s Animal Kingdom
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (WFLA) – A woman was among two people arrested on Monday for trying to bring a loaded gun into Disney theme parks in Orlando.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputies say Baleigh Lynn Turner, 23, had a loaded handgun in her backpack when she tried to enter Animal Kingdom around 11:20 a.m. on Monday.
Deputies responded to the bag check table at the park at a Disney employee’s request. Deputies say Turner gave them her backpack which had a .380 caliber Taurus handgun inside. The gun was in a holster and was loaded with one magazine holding six bullets. None of the bullets were in the chamber of the gun.
The deputy asked Turner if she had a concealed weapons permit and she said she had one issued in Alabama where she lives. The deputy called the issuing agency in Alabama and was told Turner’s concealed weapons permit expired on Jan. 29, 2016.
The deputy arrested Turner on a charge of carrying a concealed firearm without a valid permit.
Turner was the second person arrested on Monday for trying to bring a loaded gun into an Orlando Disney theme park.
A Louisiana man was arrested and banned from all Walt Disney World properties after attempting to enter Epcot with a loaded firearm.
According to an arrest affidavit, Michael C. Langston, 61, of Abita Springs, Louisiana, walked through the park entrance’s no-bag line, which allows guests without bags to bypass this portion of screening.
A Disney security officer chose Langston to go through the metal detector, at which point the man informed security that he was armed with a gun. A Disney supervisor and off-duty Orange County deputy were called to the gate, and Langston was escorted away from the guest area to a marked patrol vehicle nearby.
The deputy removed from Langston a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380 automatic with a full six-round magazine, the affidavit said.
The Disney security officer said had he not selected Langston to go through the metal detector, he believed the man would’ve entered Epcot without declaring he had a firearm with him.
Langston was arrested on suspicion of unlawful possession of a concealed firearm and issued a trespass warning from all Disney World property.