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Driver's gun found in Mar-a-Lago security incident

  (Agence France-Presse)
West Palm Beach, United States
Tue, February 20, 2018 Published on Feb. 20, 2018 Published on 2018-02-20T06:32:46+07:00

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US President Donald Trump (R) and First Lady Melania Trump (L) speak with Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel (C) while visiting first responders at Broward County Sheriff's Office in Pompano Beach, Florida, on February 16, 2018, three days after a mass shooting that claimed 17 lives at a nearby high school.

US President Donald Trump (R) and First Lady Melania Trump (L) speak with Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel (C) while visiting first responders at Broward County Sheriff's Office in Pompano Beach, Florida, on February 16, 2018, three days after a mass shooting that claimed 17 lives at a nearby high school. (AFP/JIM WATSON )

T

he driver of a van carrying members of the White House press pool was briefly detained outside Mar-a-Lago Monday after a security screening turned up a gun in his personal baggage.

The US Secret Service confirmed the incident but said it was resolved once it was determined that the driver was in "lawful possession" of the weapon.

"At no time was any Secret Service protectee in danger or impacted," it said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate, although reporters have not seen him since Friday when he visited injured victims of the mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school.

A 19-year-old armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle killed 17 people during Wednesday's rampage, which has reignited calls for changes in permissive US gun laws.

A security check in a parking lot across the street from Mar-a-Lago turned up a gun in the driver's baggage, according to a White House pool report.

The driver said he had forgotten to leave the weapon in his car, the report said.

He was then replaced by a White House staffer, who drove the press van when it joined Trump's motorcade about an hour later on the ride to the Trump International Golf Club, the report said.

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