A professional bodybuilder, who was stopped at an airport security checkpoint because of her gun-shaped high heels, says she never dreamed the shoes would cause any trouble.
Kashma Maharaj, 35, said she was the woman stopped Feb. 28 at a Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport security checkpoint because she was carrying the killer heels.
"I was surprised," she said. "They're not dangerous, except maybe to me -- I could twist an ankle with them."
Maharaj was flying from Baltimore back home to Tampa, Florida, when a Transportation Security Administration agent stopped her because he noticed something "a little strange" in her carry-on bag, she said. TSA Agents spotted the 7.5-inch plastic gun-shaped stiletto heels with mock bullets around the high platform soles.
"They said I wouldn't be able to fly with it," Maharaj said.
She was told to put the heels and matching bracelets lined with faux bullets in her checked luggage. She tried, but with just 20 minutes before her flight, she opted to leave the stilettos behind.
"It never crossed my mind that that, of all things, would trigger an alarm. It's pretty obvious it's a shoe," she said.
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The TSA highlighted the heels as an example of what not to try to take through airport security.
"Shoes and bracelets that are less than ideal to wear or bring to a @TSA checkpoint," a TSA spokeswoman tweeted with a photo.
Maharaj, who grew up in Trinidad, had planned to wear the heels in a photo shoot at the Arnold Sports Festival March 3-6 in Columbus, Ohio. The 5-foot-1 powerhouse -- who can bench-press 250 pounds and leg-press 1,100 pounds -- travels the world competing in fitness tournaments.
She said she had flown with the gun-themed heels several times, including through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and got compliments whenever she wore them.
"I had women come up to me at a restaurant and say they loved my shoes," she said.
She admitted they're flashy.
"Nicki Minaj is from Trinidad too, and we both have equally weird fashion taste," she said.
The bodybuilder said she was happy to hear the manufacturer of the silver stilettos, which calls itself the "leader in sexy and alternative footwear," had offered to send her a new pair.
"I will not be traveling with those," she said.
