Man who stopped Atlanta airport security breach speaks out

Man who stopped airport security breach speaks out

A man is describing the tense moments when he stopped someone from breaching the main TSA checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport late last month.

ATLANTA - A man is describing the tense moments when he stopped someone from breaching the main TSA checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport late last month.

Right place, right time

What we know:

Forty-year-old Fabian Leon remains behind bars in Clayton County, two weeks after the incident.

Mark Thomas was waiting to be screened around 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 30 when he saw the chaos unfold.

"They yelled breach! They said everybody freeze," he said. "I just saw this guy trying to get through security and TSA trying to stop him."

Security breach at Atlanta airport

The backstory:

Fabian Leon mug shot (Clayton County Sheriff's Office)

According to an Atlanta Police Department report, witnesses told officers Leon entered the checkpoint running full speed, knocking people to the ground.

Police said he made it past the document checker before Thomas intervened in the X-ray area.

"Got behind him, picked him up and just slammed him on the ground," Thomas said. "And I just kind of stood over him and I was like, you know, what was your next move? That was the first thing that came out of my mouth because I was thinking to myself, if you get to the X-ray machine then what."

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A 911 call from that morning captured someone saying, "he actually breached the door and went past the document checker."

Thomas said TSA officers struggled to stop Leon because of his size.

Police said Leon told officers he had consumed alcohol and taken drugs before the incident.

Threat to shoot up Hartsfield-Jackson

Big picture view:

Bond denied for Atlanta airport threat suspect

A federal judge has decided that the man who drove to the Atlanta airport with a loaded gun will remain in federal custody.

The attempted breach came the same month another man, Billy Cagle, was arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot up the airport. Thomas said he believes more law enforcement officers should be stationed near checkpoints because of incidents like this one.

According to Atlanta police, two TSA officers were hurt during the incident. Leon faces two charges and is due in court in December.

In his own words

What they're saying:

"I could clearly see as soon as I looked at him that he just wasn’t there," Thomas said.

Thomas, a former professional baseball player, said he’s glad he was there and would do it again.

"I was a catcher when I played, so I was used to getting beat up all the time," he said. "Will say this, I was a wrestler in sixth grade and I was horrible at it. The only thing that I knew how to do was pick somebody up and try to slam them. So maybe that’s why that came in."