ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – UPDATE:
Detectives from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Threat Management Division are assisting in an investigation after a bomb threat was made on an Allegiant flight departing from St. Pete-Clearwater Airport.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, on July 6, 2025, at about 2:03 p.m., deputies were alerted to a verbal bomb threat on Allegiant flight 1023, which was headed to Roanoke, Virginia. The plane returned to the airport around 2:08 p.m. as authorities began their inquiry.
The sheriff’s office said investigators learned that 27-year-old Taj Taylor told another passenger his laptop was a bomb. That passenger immediately notified flight attendants. Several other witnesses on the plane also heard Taylor make the claim, the sheriff’s office added.
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office K9 units searched Taylor’s belongings but found no explosives, the sheriff’s office reported.
The FBI has since taken over the investigation and is handling any criminal charges and further details. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office urges anyone with information to contact the FBI.
Stay with 10 News for updates.
A plane that was en route to Roanoke on Sunday had to turn around and return to St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport in Florida due to a bomb threat issued by a passenger, Allegiant Airlines said.
Allegiant Airlines said in a statement that around 2 p.m., a passenger aboard a flight from St. Petersburg heading to Roanoke “caused a disruption.” A spokesperson from Allegiant confirmed this disruption to be a verbal altercation between two passengers that led to one person threatening that there was a bomb on the plane.
Passengers who were on board the flight told 10 News that it was uneventful until the commotion started.
“He said he had a bomb and the girl beside him started screaming and going crazy,” Kendell Haga said.
Haga and her fiancée were sitting right in front of the passengers involved in the incident.
“They were just kind of having, not really an altercation but he kept on asking her questions and she was just getting annoyed,” Haga said. “Just out of nowhere he just said that…that was it.”
Employees managed to get the two separated when the plane turned around.
Richard Ford was also on the plane, and is visiting Roanoke to see his younger sister. He said that police came on board after the plane landed.
“They came in the plane and they snatched the guy in the back, took him off and we still sat there forever,” Ford said.
Authorities said following the threat, the plane turned around and returned to St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport. The suspect was apprehended and is now in custody. After investigation, law enforcement did not find a bomb on the aircraft.
The passengers said officers took statements and asked questions of each passenger before they were allowed to go back to the terminal and were able to board another flight after hours of waiting.
“Once we did all that and we reboarded the plan we got right up in the air and left,” Haga said. “We were supposed to leave at 1:00 and we didn’t leave until 6:00.”
In a statement, Allegiant apologized to passengers for the inconvenience and said they had to re-crew the flight because of the incident, adding to the delays.
A spokesman also said the airline “does not tolerate disruptive behavior of any kind.”
