A pistol-packing woman was nabbed with a loaded gun at the Empire State Building on Sunday after setting off a metal detector at the Big Apple tourist hot spot, police said.
Justina Shealer, 37, had a valid gun license issued in Pennsylvania but was not authorized to carry the weapon in New York, cops said.
“Our laws are pretty strict here in New York City,” an NYPD spokesman told The Post. “She probably neglected to look them up before she came. It dinged in the metal detector.”
The arrest took place shortly after 11 a.m., with the woman taken into custody without incident.
Police said the weapon was a Ruger handgun.
A visitor was arrested with a loaded gun at the Empire State Building on Sunday.ZUMAPRESS.com
The 102-floor landmark high-rise prohibits guns from the building except for members of federal, state, and New York City law-enforcement agencies.
Shealer was charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
The woman isn’t the first unsuspecting tourist to show up packing at the building.
In August 2020, two armed visitors were busted at the art deco landmark in different incidents in just two days. They were a Louisiana man and a woman from Wyoming.
Several visitors to the Empire State Building have been arrested while carrying guns, most recently a woman on Sunday who had a Pennsylvania pistol permit, police said.
In July 2013, a 39-year-old Georgia man was busted after asking a security guard where he could stash his loaded .40-caliber Sig Sauer handgun while visiting the site.
In 2012, an ex-Marine also was arrested after trying to check his gun in with security. The vet had a valid pistol permit from Indiana but not from the Big Apple.
Source: nypost.com
