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Man Arrested For Security Breach at PIA

Peoria County Jail

Peoria International Airport was closed early Saturday morning for commercial flights. The terminal building was closed and various police agencies swept the airport and restored the secured environment after a man breached security about 3 a.m. while it was closed.

    

28-year-old Justin Deemie has been arrested and is hospitalized after the security breach and disruption at PIA.

 

Deemie allegedly stole a vehicle in Peoria, tried to run it into the terminal building or lost control of the car, and then exited the vehicle on foot. It is believed he breached a secure part of the airport, which alerted authorities.

 

Airport video footage time-stamps indicate the man who broke into the secured part of the airport spent 7 minutes inside before exiting the facility and attempting to break into a Peoria County Deputy’s car.

 

Deemie at 5’10, 142 pounds, may have picked up something like a bolder and thrown it through the car window. He was apprehended by several Peoria County deputies in the airport’s parking lot.

 

It’s unclear why Deemie is hospitalized, except to say he would have had to exit the secured part of the airport over a tall barbed wire fence.

 

After Deemie was detained, the airport remained closed. Peoria City Police Bomb Squad and TSA officials sweep of the premises and grounds and found nothing suspicious. The airport reopened at approximately 7 a.m.