Port Authority police are investigating how a gun wound up inside a maintenance closet at Kennedy Airport, law enforcement officials say. 

Electricians found the unloaded gun hidden inside a box in the closet in Terminal 1, officials said. The locked closet is located in a private area before the screening areas and security checkpoints of the terminal. 

Investigators are looking into whether an airport worker hid the box there.

The box was discovered while electricians were running wires through the ceiling of the closet, officials said.