Suspect arrested after alleged mid-flight bomb threat caused emergency landing
Taj Malik Tayor, 27, of Largo, Florida, told another passenger on Allegiant Air flight 1023, headed to Roanoke, Virginia, that his laptop was a bomb, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. The plane had taken off from St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE), and quickly returned to that airport after the alleged threat.
"The passenger immediately notified the flight attendants," the sheriff's office said. "Detectives say several other witnesses on the plane also heard Taylor state that he had a bomb."
After the plane landed, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office K9s searched Taylor's belongings. They did not find a bomb.
According to Pinellas County jail records, Taylor was booked just before 11:30 p.m. on Sunday night, and was released from custody about 11 hours later on Monday morning.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has taken over the case, and provided an arrest affidavit for Taylor.
The affidavit says that Taylor, "knowing the information to be false, willfully and maliciously with reckless disregard for the safety of human life, gave, under circumstances in which the information may have reasonably believed, false information about an alleged attempt being made to do an act… specifically, possession on or about the defendant's person an explosive device…"
According to the affidavit, Taylor told investigators that he made the comments after a passenger was rude to him, and said that he was recently released from a mental health facility. He said he had taken medication on Saturday, the day before the alleged threat, and was "suffering from a lack of clarity."
Taylor appeared in court Monday morning, according to the FBI. It is unclear whether he has an attorney.
"Allegiant does not tolerate disruptive behavior of any kind, so the decision was made to return to the airport," the airline told Fox News Digital in a statement. "The plane landed safely and was met by law enforcement officers, who took the passenger into custody."
"We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our passengers and thank them for their patience. As a gesture of goodwill, we issued $100 vouchers to each itinerary, to be used for future travel."
Fox News Digital reached out to Taylor.
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