A radio reporter was arrested this morning and accused of trying to take a loaded handgun into the Allegheny County Courthouse.

The county sheriff's office said KDKA reporter Rob Milford was stopped at 9:25 a.m. after a .38 caliber snub-nosed revolver was found in his briefcase at a courthouse screening station. Mr. Milford said he didn't realize he had put his gun in the briefcase, said Sheriff William P. Mullen.

He was to be arraigned today on charges of carrying a firearm without a license and entering a court facility with a firearm.

"It's very early and we're looking into it," said KDKA program director Marshall Adams. "We'll be conducting a full investigation."

Mr. Milford, 53, of Castle Shannon, was at the courthouse to cover the trial of the East End rapist, Mr. Adams said, and he emphasized that there was no undercover effort on the part of the radio station to test courtroom security with a concealed weapon.

It was the second incident in a week in which a person with a loaded gun was stopped at the courthouse. On Thursday, 22-year-old Shadina Garner, who was to be a witness in a case, was stopped with a .32 caliber handgun in her purse.

Mr. Milford, a morning general assignment reporter, arrived at KDKA in April 2006 after working for CBS Radio News and Fox News Radio. He reported from the Iraq war twice, once when he was embedded during the initial invasion in 2003.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.T