Armed man breached JFK security to meet pope

NEW YORK, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Just hours after Pope Francis departed New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport for Philadelphia, a retired firefighter allegedly breached airport security armed with a foot-long hunting knife and other weapons, authorities said

Chris Cannella, 39, of New York pleaded not guilty Monday after he allegedly drove a black Chevy Tahoe, similar to Secret Service vehicles, with VIP motorcades onto the airport tarmac.

Cannella reportedly joined a motorcade the first time about 6 p.m. and "flashed something silver that looked like a police badge," and drove past the guard post, court records indicate. At 7:30 p.m., he was spotted a second time following a motorcade and arrested when he could not identify the Secret Service agent he said authorized him to be there.

Cannella allegedly told authorities he wanted to give the pope his business card and "wanted to change the world." The motorcades were actually for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. Francis had left for Philadelphia some 10 hours earlier.

Police said in addition to the knife, they also found a magazine from a 9-mm pistol with five hollow-point rounds inside, a single rifle round, two walkie-talkies, several ear-pieces, a laptop, a cell phone, a suit, a small amount of marijuana and a pen shaft that had been cut in half.

Cannella's lawyer Scott Bookstein said his client is "a guy going through a lot of stress who did something stupid."

"This is completely blown out of proportion," he said.

The U.S. Secret Service, which coordinated security for the pope, said in a statement Monday it, "in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies, is currently conducting an aggressive investigation into these allegations."

"The Secret Service goes to the utmost extent to provide dignitary and VIP protection, intelligence and counterterrorism assets, explosive device mitigation, interagency communications, critical infrastructure and airspace security," the federal agency said. "These assets were brought to bear in full force this week and last, in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and continue to be deployed in New York to protect the hundreds of foreign dignitaries in attendance of the U.N. General Assembly."