Normal Police Chief Steve Petrilli said he wants to turn a mistake into a teachable moment for his department.
Petrilli acknowledged that he carried a loaded handgun in a bag through a pre-check security screening at Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) confirmed its officers detected a firearm inside a passenger’s carry-on bag during the routine X-ray screening at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday. The TSA said a McLean County sheriff’s deputy responded to the checkpoint and seized the loaded 9 mm Glock.
“If you make a mistake you own it,” Petrilli said during a meeting with reporters at the police station Thursday morning. He said his “heart dropped into my stomach” when he realized the gun was in his bag.
Petrilli said he “beat himself up over it” over the weekend and notified police department staff.
“Use this as a lesson so it doesn’t happen to you. If you are going to be traveling, put a system in place, which I am going to do,” he said. “I’m never going to use my bag for work ever again as my bag for travel.”
Petrilli said a TSA executive told him Thursday morning he would receive a warning and might lose pre-check eligibility.
A spokesperson for TSA said the penalty for bringing a firearm to a checkpoint can reach as high as $15,000 depending on the circumstances and pre-check revocation for at least five years.
Petrilli, who has been Normal’s police chief since 2022, is a 25-year department veteran. He said the trip was not for police department business.
Petrilli said officers gave him the option to store the gun at the airport or take it back to his car. He said the weapon was stored at the airport until his return.
“Kudos to TSA, they took the appropriate action,” Petrilli said.
Passengers are allowed to travel with a firearm in checked baggage if they are unloaded, packed separately from ammunition in a locked hardback case and declared at the airline check-in counter, according to TSA.
TSA told WGLT this is the first incident of a weapon seized at Central Illinois Regional Airport since at least 2022.
