‘Bombs in my bag’: Accused teenage gunman fronts court

A teenager allegedly boarded a Jetstar plane armed with a long-arm firearm and ammunition, and claimed, “I’ve got bombs in my bag”, court documents have revealed.

The 17-year-old was dramatically overpowered by passengers and crew moments after he boarded the Sydney-bound plane at Avalon Airport on Thursday afternoon.

Jetstar passenger Barry Clark (centre) and a pilot wrestle the armed teen to the floor of the plane.Credit: Nine News

He appeared in court on Friday, dressed in a white dress shirt and black pants and flanked by two officers.

During the brief court appearance, the teenager sat quietly and stared straight ahead.

The court heard it was his first time in custody.

He is also accused of stealing two 12-gauge shotguns and a rifle, and had two or more firearms on him as he made his way to Avalon Airport.

According to court documents released to the media, he was allegedly carrying a faux homemade explosive, which had been fashioned to look like a legitimate explosive device.

He has also been charged with driving unsupervised while on a learner’s permit.

Asked by the magistrate whether he was applying for bail, the teenager responded: “No, I’m not.”

He will return to court on March 21.

Police were called to Avalon Airport near Geelong on Thursday afternoon after reports a male wielding a firearm had attempted to board the Jetstar flight.

The boy allegedly climbed through a hole in the airport’s security fence before making his way on foot to the plane, Superintendent Michael Reid said on Thursday evening.

The incident has sparked widespread concern that such a major security breach could unfold at a Victorian airport. A Jetstar spokesperson said the airline was working with police to “urgently understand what has occurred”.

The plane – Jetstar flight 610 from Avalon to Sydney – was carrying about 150 people.

On Friday, Jetstar chief executive Stephanie Tully said the cabin manager on board the flight had initially observed that something was amiss when the teenager, dressed in high-vis, attempted to get on the plane.

Tully said the cabin manager sought the assistance of passenger Barry Clark and other crew, including the pilot, who came out to help restrain the teenager.

“They acted exactly as they should … the way they’re trained to operate, and we’re super grateful for Barry, who’s now a bit famous for the help he provided in what would have been a very traumatic incident for our people,” Tully said.

Tully said she was proud of how the pilot and cabin crew had acted during the security breach.

“He [the pilot] came out of the flight deck to help. He’s trained to do that,” she said.

“They’re [all staff] trained to do this. But it doesn’t stop these efforts being heroic, and we’re just so proud of our people and the way they acted.”

Asked whether the airline would undertake its own investigation or offer training for staff, Tully said the security breach was a matter for Avalon Airport.

“We will obviously participate and work with them on that, but we’ve been flying out of Avalon for 20 years, and we know that’s always been a safe and secure airport,” she said.

“We understand he [the offender] [allegedly] gained access on the perimeter of Avalon Airport.

“We don’t understand how that happened. It’s now a matter for police investigation. Obviously, we’ll work with Avalon Airport to understand what happened. We take these things really seriously.”

While Tully stopped short of saying the airline would conduct its own investigation, she said Jetstar would take on any findings that came out of Avalon Airport investigation into the incident.

“We will work with them on learnings from this incident yesterday,” Tully said.

“Our priority right now is to care for those people who went through a very unusual day at work.”

Tully said the pilot was “doing amazing” and was back flying on Friday.

“Clearly, when something like this happens, everyone responds in different ways,” Tully said.

“This is a very experienced pilot at Jestar who has worked for Jetstar for a long time. He’s super proud of the team on the aircraft and the way they operated, and we’re proud of him and his leadership yesterday.”

This masthead has confirmed that federal police and Victoria Police have no permanent presence at Avalon, and the airport’s owners and operators have responsibility for passenger screening and perimeter security.

It is believed police raced nine kilometres from the nearby town of Lara, west of Avalon, to arrest the teenager who was being restrained by passengers, including Clark, a station farmer and former shearer and boxer from Echuca-Moama.

Clark noticed the barrel of a shotgun while the teenager was talking to the flight attendant. Footage captured of the incident shows Clark, a former boxer, tackling the teenager to the ground.

The farmer threw the shotgun down the stairs outside the aircraft with the help of a pilot and other passengers.

On Friday, Avalon Airport chief executive Ari Suss praised the actions of Avalon and Jetstar employees in their handling of the incident.

“We do rehearse to some degree emergency drills and emergency management protocols, and we knew we just had to get into action,” Suss said.

“The Jetstar team that was there, aircraft maintenance, aircraft engineering guys, everyone pulled their weight. It was quite something to see. My colleagues who would otherwise have desk jobs deployed themselves into more practical roles, traffic management and other things.”

Suss said the airport’s management would be receptive to any findings of its investigations into how the incident occurred, and that security there had already been bolstered by Friday.

“There will be some learnings that come from this,” he said. “We’ll be responsive to that – we always have been.

“I’ve implemented a number of security upgrades already with regard to very noticeable additional presence of security around the terminal. There are things we’re doing around the perimeter and there are also some steps we’ve taken with regard to outside.”

While some have suggested the airport should install a statue of Clark at the airport in honour of his heroism, Suss said he had come up with another reward.

“I did spend some time with Barry yesterday,” he said. “I said to him, ‘You’ve changed the course of history, and you’ve got free tickets for life at Avalon Airport.’

“I had a few people suggesting a statue out the front [of the airport] … I think tickets for life is appropriate. It speaks to the characters that come through Avalon from time to time. It was quite surreal. He was almost calming me down to some degree.”

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