A retired New York City firefighter who breached security twice around Pope Francis was arraigned on Monday for driving onto the tarmac at JFK Airport where the Pope's plane was parked.

Pope Francis departs New York en route to Philadelphia from John F. Kennedy International Airport
Pope Francis departs New York en route to Philadelphia from John F. Kennedy International Airport (Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)
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Shepherd One was long gone when Christopher Cannella, 39, driving a black Chevy Tahoe flashed an FDNY badge and joined a motorcade on Saturday night that he thought was the Pope's according to the New York Daily News. It was actually the motorcade for Turkish president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. Cannella got out to the tarmac but turned around and headed back out of the airport before joining another motorcade carrying Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, reports the newspaper, but was stopped by security.

Both parties had been in New York for the United Nations General Assembly meeting.

A Port Authority police officer stopped Cannella from leaving a second time and was questioned by Secret Service agents who found drugs, a 9-mm. pistol with five hollow-point rounds inside, a single rifle round, two walkie-talkies, several ear-pieces, a laptop, a cell phone, a suit, and a pen shaft that had been cut in half in the Tahoe. During his interrogation, Cannella became angry and broke a chair according to the Daily News.

The newspaper also reported that Cannella also told investigators he had been at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. on Thursday for another event with Pope Francis but did not have a ticket.

Cannella's lawyer told the Daily News that his client has been hit hard by the death of his 6-year-old niece to cancer and a career ending hip injury. "I think it's had a traumatic effect on him,” attorney Scott Bookstein told the Daily News. “I don't think he wanted to accost the Pope. I think he would have liked to get a message to the Pope through one of his people, hoping for a prayer or maybe an audience with the Pope."

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