Green Bay Packers starting left tackle Rasheed Walker is facing weapons charges in New York after an incident at LaGuardia Airport on Friday morning. The 25-year-old lineman was taken into custody at Terminal CÂ and later released on his own recognizance following an initial court appearance.
The case now moves into the legal system, with a March court date set, while his representatives maintain he believed he was following proper procedures under his Wisconsin firearm license. Details from the criminal complaint and his attorney’s comments outline what happened at the airline counter and how authorities responded.
Why Was Packers’ Rasheed Walker Arrested?
According to the criminal complaint cited by the New York Post, Walker was arrested after attempting to check luggage that contained a handgun and ammunition before a Delta Air Lines flight at LaGuardia. Prosecutors said he told a Delta employee that his bag held a locked box with a 9mm Glock pistol and 36 rounds of ammunition.
Port Authority police were alerted, responded to the scene at Terminal C, and located the firearm and ammunition inside a locked case within his checked bag. He was then taken into custody and charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm under New York law.
The report further stated that Walker, who joined the Packers in 2022 and is their starting left tackle, appeared in Queens County Criminal Court and was released on his own recognizance. His next court date is scheduled for March 19. New York’s weapons statutes are among the strictest in the country, and the charges stem from possession in the state regardless of the gun’s licensing status elsewhere.
Walker’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, said that the firearm was legally licensed in Wisconsin, where Walker plays, and argued that his client misunderstood New York’s restrictions and airline rules. The lawyer claims that Walker, a northeasterner who went to school at Penn State and North Point High School in the Washington, D.C. area, did not realize that he wasn’t allowed to fly with a gun.
“It was in a locked box and he disclosed it to the people at the airport,” Aidala explained. “He told a person from Delta he was traveling with a firearm. He mistakenly thought because he had a licensed firearm and it was in a locked box that he was able to travel with it. We are confident the case will be dismissed.”
Local coverage emphasized that Walker self-reported the firearm to airline staff before bag check, which triggered the law-enforcement response. New York’s rules require specific protocols for transporting firearms, and violations can result in felony charges even when the weapon is licensed in another state.
As per the latest reports, there has been no public statement from the Packers regarding team discipline or any change to Walker’s roster status. The legal process will determine how the case proceeds, with the defense expected to argue that Walker’s disclosure, locked storage, and out-of-state license should mitigate his exposure.
For now, the charges remain active, and the matter sits with the Queens courts while the club and league monitor developments.
