Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood said Wednesday that he was stopped with a handgun in his bag as he was traveling through Orlando International Airport.

The incident happened Thursday, Aug. 21.

Chitwood said he had just finished taking part in an anti-crime operation and rushed to get to the airport. He was headed to New Jersey to visit family.

He forgot to remove a holstered ankle gun from his carry-on bag, though.

As he went through security, a Transportation Security Administration agent found the weapon in the bag.

"It was just — it was absolute stupidity, and I embarrassed myself and my department," Chitwood said Wednesday, almost a week after the incident.

Chitwood was questioned by TSA and the Orlando Police Department.

The gun was secured, and Chitwood was permitted to contact his supervisor (Daytona Beach City Manager Jim Chisholm).

For a moment, Chitwood thought about how he was on the other side of the law.

"I thought, 'I'm getting locked up and my career is over. I cannot believe how stupid and what an oversight this was,'" he said.

Chitwood was permitted to board his flight. He then spent the weekend with his daughter and grandchildren in New Jersey.

As an actively sworn law enforcement officer, Chitwood can travel armed after completion of Transportation Security Administration's Law Enforcement Officer — Fly Armed program.

"For the sake of time, Chief Chitwood was escorted from the checkpoint to safely secure his weapon before he was allowed to board his flight," said Sgt. Lovetta Quinn-Henry, of the Orlando Police Department. "No further action was required."

Sari Koshetz, of the Transportation Security Administration, said the agency doesn't confirm the names individuals involved in security incidents.

"As a matter of policy, anyone who brings a firearm to a federal checkpoint faces possible civil penalties regardless of whether and independent of whether they face criminal penalties," Koshetz said in a statement.

Twenty-seven guns have been found at security checkpoints since Jan. 1 at Orlando International Airport, Koshetz said.