PITTSBURGH — The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office told Channel 11 a Northside woman was arrested after she made it through security at municipal court with a loaded handgun.
The Sheriff’s Office said 36-year-old Tiffany Towns was arrested on an outstanding warrant along with being charged with possession of a firearm or other weapon in court facility.
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"We were kind of startled because we didn't know exactly how the firearm made it into the facility," Allegheny County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Krays said.
The Sheriff’s Office said Towns went to the Pittsburgh Municipal Courts Building at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. While waiting, Sheriff’s Deputies said they learned Towns had a warrant out for her arrest stemming from a theft charge back in November 2018.
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Towns was arrested and while deputies were searching her, the Sheriff’s Office said Towns told them she had a loaded Glock 19 handgun with a fully loaded magazine in her purse. Deputies said they went to talk with building security to find out how the gun made it past them. The Sheriff’s Office said the guards could not see the handgun under the x-ray scanner.
"It's mostly human error, but sometimes it's machine failure. We went back and re-scanned the purse and we were able to see the gun inside. Preliminarily, it looks like it was human error," Kraus said.
Tiffany Towns was taken to the Allegheny County Jail awaiting arraignment.