Ordinarily, it wouldn’t seem like news that a contractor working for the Department of Homeland Security was found to be carrying a gun at work. However, the incident occurred less than a month after another DHS employee was stopped at a random security check and found with a gun and a cache of weapons and suspicious devices.
Nice gun-free zone you’ve got there. If this is what security at DHS is finding just through random screenings …
EXCLUSIVE: For 2nd time in month, employee arrested w/ gun inside headquarters of US Dept of Homeland Security in DC https://t.co/GYEC5vXHvg
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) July 12, 2016
NBC4 in Washington, D.C., reported Tuesday that Thomas Pressley, a contractor working in IT, was arrested Monday after a security screening found him in possession of a concealed, unlicensed 9-millimeter handgun. Pressley was jailed pending a court appearance Friday.
NEW: Man charged w/ carrying gun into agency headquarters of US Dept of Homeland Security is being held in lockup beneath DC Police HQ
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) July 12, 2016
Scott MacFarlane reports that DHS headquarters “is among the most secured government facilities in the United States, rivaling the security apparatus of the White House and the Pentagon.”
As Twitchy reported, a security screening last month nabbed DHS employee Jonathan Wienke, who was found to possess not only a gun loaded with hollow-point bullets, but also a knife, pepper spray, thermal imaging equipment, and radio devices.
The radios in particular led investigators to suspect that Wienke might have been conspiring with another person to commit some sort of workplace violence. He was caught with the weapons on the same day senior agency officials were scheduled to meet near his workspace.
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