GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A green flash in the sky blinded pilots flying in Gwinnett County.
The flash led police to a teenager with a machine gun near Gwinnett Place Mall.
Pilots told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson that it’s a problem that happens far too often.
When the light from a laser pointer hits wind screen, the light spreads, blinding the pilots while they’re in the air.
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The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has been cracking down on this issue, but police say not everyone’s gotten the message.
From the ground near Gwinnett Place Mall, police said someone was aiming a green laser at planes overhead.
Pilots who were blinded by the green flash pinpointed the source and radioed the control tower, who called 911.
Police told Channel 2 Action News that they tracked down 17-year-old Billy Rojas around 8 p.m. on March 20.
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But when they found the teen, they didn’t only find a laser.
Officers say Rojas had a stolen Glock firearm in his waistband, a machine gun and vapes with tetrahydrocannabinol on him.
Now, Rojas faces six charges, including three felonies.
Gwinnett County police have arrested people for pointing lasers at Air1, the police department’s helicopter before.
Madison Raesly, a flight instructor at Magnolia Aviation Academy, said the first thing she teachers her students is situational awareness.
“Now that you can’t see your instruments, and you’re blinded for a few seconds, you can’t see anything,” Raesly said. “It takes you a second to regroup.”
The FAA said it counted nearly 11,000 laser strikes on planes across the United States last year. It’s a federal crime.
“It’s still a very common occurrence and needs to be talked about more,” Raesly said.
For a teen near a mall with a laser pointer, what started as a flash of light now carries years of consequences.
“Even if you think it’s a harmless prank, it’s not,” Raesly said. “You’re putting the life of people, the pilots, in danger, and people even on the ground.”
Pointing a laser at an aircraft is its own federal offense, but Rojas also faces felonies for the weapons police say they found on him.
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