Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission (FPC) nominee Jordan Morales threatened to retaliate against air traffic controllers who he believed had “badmouthed” him after he was suspended and ultimately forced to resign for leaving a loaded handgun in a men’s bathroom stall inside the Air Traffic Control Tower at Mitchell International Airport, the Heartland Post has learned exclusively.
Morales, who was working as an air traffic controller, brought a loaded gun into the secure area in April 2022 and left it sitting on a handrail in a bathroom stall for several hours. A colleague found it and called the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office. Morales admitted to deputies that he was running errands before his work shift and didn’t realize he had his firearm on him. He said that he planned to return it to his truck after he used the bathroom but forgot.
Although Morales is a concealed carry permit holder, bringing a gun into an Air Traffic Control facility is a serious state and federal crime. Sheriff’s deputies declined to pursue state charges against Morales after interviewing him, and he never faced a federal case, either. He was, however, immediately placed on administrative duty while the FAA investigated.
In late 2022, his supervisors recommended that he be fired. He resigned his position instead.
In mid-November, he sent several text messages to colleagues that included screenshots of open Air Traffic Control managerial positions.
”When I secure this job through a legal technicality, I will search the files for anyone who badmouthed me and they will be summarily fired,” Morales wrote.
Doing so would constitute a federal crime under the Privacy Act of 1974, but Morales insisted in an email to the Heartland Post that he was only kidding.
“This was a joke with someone who was commiserating with me about the situation,” he said.
Multiple sources, though, contradict this and recall Morales being extremely hostile towards his FAA colleagues after he was suspended and refused to take any responsibility for the actions that caused it.
”He was just not a good person,” said one source.
Last week, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson nominated Morales to fill a vacant position on the Fire and Police Commission, the civilian board that oversees the city’s fire and police departments. The Common Council must now confirm him.
