ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A 27-year-old Georgia woman is accused of hiding a loaded gun near a Magic Kingdom security checkpoint during her visit to Disney World earlier this month.


What You Need To Know

  • Woman accused of bringing loaded gun to Disney World

  • Deputies say gun was inside woman's purse

  • Woman reportedly hid the purse behind planter near Magic Kingdom security checkpoint

Marcia Temple, of Lithonia, Georgia, hid her purse containing a gun behind a planter near the security checkpoint on October 8, according to an Orange County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

An Advent Health employee at the Transportation and Ticket Center temperature screening spotted Temple place the purse behind one of the planters near the tents before walking through the metal detectors, according to the report. The employee notified a Disney Security manager, who notified deputy Nadia Engwall, who was working nearby.

Engwall located the purse behind the planter and opened it to determine the owner, finding a gun inside.

“Upon opening the purse, I recognized the butt of a firearm, readily accessible once opened,” Engwall wrote in the report.

When Engwall asked Temple why she had a gun on Disney property, Temple blamed her 6-year-old son, according to the report.

“I had told my son to hold it for me and stand right here while I go get my brother,” the report quotes Temple as telling the deputy. “He put it down, and messed with the plants and I put them back, but I didn’t know he put it down and I didn’t know he left it over here.”

Temple, who didn’t have a concealed weapons permit for Florida or Georgia, was arrested and charged with carrying a concealed firearm, according to the report. She was also banned from Walt Disney World property.

This is the latest incident involving a tourist bringing a weapon onto Disney World property.

Last month, a Palm Beach Gardens man had an AR-15 and a 9mm gun in his luggage when he checked into Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.