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Hillsborough courthouse shut down twice over guns

 
Published Feb. 21, 2012

TAMPA — The Hillsborough County Courthouse was shut down twice Monday when authorities detected guns at the building's main entrance security checkpoint.

The first one turned out to be real. The second, just a toy.

The first incident happened about 7:50 a.m.

Michael Joseph Cardoso, 40, of Tampa, submitted his backpack for screening and screeners found a loaded Kel-Tec .32-caliber pistol, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

The discovery triggered an immediate shutdown of the checkpoint as deputies responded.

Cardoso was cooperative, deputies said, and told them he had a concealed weapons permit and forgot the gun was in his bag.

He was issued a notice to appear on a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed firearm in a place of nuisance.

The gun was impounded and he was released at the scene.

About 90 minutes later, the checkpoint was shut down again when an unidentified man brought a replica gun in a bag. As the weapon was going through the screening process, he told authorities it was a toy gun and he had forgotten about it.

He was allowed to go into the courthouse and not charged.