Like there weren't already enough questions about airport security, and the people who do the screening, THIS story should really make us think twice about flying.
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- An airport screener who is a registered sex offender faces life in prison after a weekend rampage in which he fired shots throughout his apartment complex and then set fire to one of the buildings, officials said.
Nathaniel Lee Kewanyama, 22, screened passengers at Hobby Airport. He was employed by Max Aero, a Houston-based airport security company contracted to do business at Hobby.
Early Sunday, police said, Kewanyama entered his apartment in southeast Houston and found three people inside. Police would not identify who they were or how they got to be there.Police said the people told Kewanyama to leave, but he came back a short while later "fully armed" with a number of weapons, including an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
"He fired dozens of rounds," said Houston Police spokesman John Cannon. "It's a miracle no one was shot."
When police began arriving at the complex, Kewanyama barricaded himself in another apartment and set fire to it to keep police away. Police then arrested Kewanyama, who was shirtless and had a tattoo of a woman on his chest.
This story first caught my attention because I fly out of Hobby Airport frequently, including this trip to Phoenix. I think the next time a security screener at Hobby asks me to undo my belt, I'll be thinking twice about why they're asking.
Kewanyama is a registered sex offender, and yet he was able to get a job as a security. There is some question regarding Kewanyama's date of hire. If he was hired prior to 2.17.02, his employer, Max Aero, has until the end of the year to complete a background check. If he was hired after 2.17.02, a background check would been required immediately. Regardless of his date of hire, how DID someone like Kewanyama secure a position as a screener. Even the most cursory of background checks should have disclosed his rap sheet and his sex offender status. That this apparently was not done is reprehensible.
What is it going to take for Norman Mineta and the Department of Transportation's Transportation Security Administration (now there's a mouthful) to create a security system that actually works? I've said this before, and it bears saying again: the current system DOES NOT WORK. It is, sadly, wonderfully successful at creating maximum hassle, inconvenience, and invasion of privacy for the flying public. A security system should protect the public, not simply make it FEEL safer when in fact little has changed. A system that cannot even effectively screen those who will be doing the screening does nothing to inspire confidence.
Nathaniel Kewanyama is not the sole problem, but he is symbolic of the shoddy, poorly organized, and poorly administered security system that is currently in place. Until that changes, the flying public is every bit as much at risk as it was prior to 9.11.
