A woman already facing a gun charge from a Palm Beach County courthouse arrest was taken into custody again after deputies say she ran toward an active runway at President Donald J. Trump International Airport on August 22. Officials say Summer Lezcano, described as a passenger wearing all black with a roller bag, went through a door into a restricted area and headed toward the taxiway before agents tried to stop her as she ran across the ramp.
According to WPBF, Lezcano had been released on bond just two days earlier following her arrest at the Palm Beach County Courthouse on August 20, where officials said she allegedly brought a gun into the building. When she showed up at the airport, officials said a firearm was reportedly found in a black bag during an X-ray screening, prompting airport security to halt the checkpoint and call in law enforcement, which is standard procedure whenever a weapon appears on an X-ray scan, according to a video explainer cited in the research on TSA checkpoint protocol.
Officials said agents attempted to stop Lezcano as she ran across the ramp, but she was not cooperating, prompting a request for backup as she continued toward the active runway. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, which handles law enforcement duties at both the courthouse and the airport, was called in to assist, and deputies ultimately arrested her. She is now facing charges of trespassing, obstruction, and carrying a gun in a specified area, per the outlet's report.
A Newly Renamed Airport With Heightened Security
The airport where the runway breach happened was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport on July 9, 2026, after Governor Ron DeSantis signed state legislation, with the facility's official FAA airport location code switching to DJT this August, according to PBS. The facility sits inside an already tightly monitored security environment; the FAA instituted permanent year-round flight restrictions over nearby Mar-a-Lago back in October 2025, creating an intensive security perimeter around the airport's primary east-west runway, as Hoodline reported in its piece on flight path changes near Mar-a-Lago.
The airport is no minor facility. FAA data from 2025 shows it handled more than 159,000 aircraft operations and 8.6 million passengers, making it the third-busiest airport in the Miami metropolitan area, per Wikipedia. The FAA had also awarded the airport a $17.2 million grant in July 2024 to reconstruct pavement and upgrade lighting along active taxiways and runway shoulders, a project Hoodline covered when the $17.2M FAA grant landed.
What the Charges Could Mean
The two arrests carry very different legal weight under Florida law. Carrying a concealed firearm into a courthouse is charged as a second-degree misdemeanor under Florida Statute § 790.06(12)(a), a prohibition that survived the state's 2023 permitless carry law, according to legal background compiled by The Ansara Law Firm. Trespassing onto an operational airport runway or airfield, however, elevates a standard trespass charge from a misdemeanor to a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison under Florida Statute § 810.09, per details outlined by the Sammis Law Firm.
Lezcano could also face separate federal exposure beyond the state charges filed by prosecutors. Transporting an unauthorized firearm through an airport security checkpoint can trigger civil penalties from the Transportation Security Administration of up to $3,000 for a loaded gun, and up to $14,000 for repeat offenders, according to a report from Forbes. The TSA is not shy about issuing these fines; the agency levied a record $23 million in civil penalties against passengers caught carrying guns in carry-on bags at airport checkpoints nationwide in 2024 alone, Forbes has separately reported. Whether the TSA will pursue a separate federal notice of violation against Lezcano alongside the state charges remains an open question.
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