ORLANDO, Fla. — A Central Florida woman is speaking out for the first time after she was arrested last week during a routine search at the Howard Hamilton International Airport in Turks and Caicos. 

Sharitta Grier was visiting the islands on a Mother’s Day trip. When leaving the islands, airport authorities found two bullets in her luggage and charged her with one count of possession of ammunition.

She is currently staying at an Airbnb with two other Americans going through the same situation.

What You Need To Know

  • Sharitta Shinise Grier is one of five Americans charged with illegally carrying ammunition on the islands

  • The British territory tightened its gun laws two years ago following a jump in gun violence and weapons trafficking
  • Grier faces a potential 12-year prison sentence after bullets were found in her luggage

  • Grier is due in court in July

Grier said she was shocked when they found the bullets in her bag.

“She pulls the bottom of the flap out of my carry-on. When she pulled her hand out, there were two rounds of ammunition in her hand. I went into shock,” Grier said. 

Turks and Caicos tightened its gun laws about two years ago after a jump in gun violence and weapons trafficking.

Grier said she also got stopped at the airport when they left the United States and was flagged for lotion and body spray.

“I got stopped. My bag got flagged. They’re taking everything out and she said you can’t have this tall bottle of lotion and body spray. I said okay. She tossed it in the trash. We went on about our business,” Grier said. 

She said she’s still trying to process what’s going on.

“Never in a million years I would imagine something like this happening to me,” Grier said. 

Grier said she owns a gun for protection and stores it away in her duffel bag when people visit.

“Only thing I know of that could have happened is with the box, with me tilting the bag back, putting it on my top shelf in my closet, the two-round had to have rolled out of the box and went under the flap into my carry-on. That’s the only way,” Grier said. 

When her family surprised her with the trip to Turks and Caicos, she said she started to pack using that bag.

“I wasn’t even thinking of anything. Once my daughter told me about this trip, I took everything out, put it up, and just started packing my bag excited,” Grier said. 

Grier said she made an honest mistake. 

“There’s no way I could have seen it, heard it or nothing because it was under the flap of the bottom of my carry-on,” Grier said. 

She’s due in court in July and faces a possible 12-year prison sentence.

“It’s so scary not knowing, like, what the outcome is going to be,” Grier said.

Grier’s family and friends started a GoFundMe page to help bring her home.

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