Gun-wielding youth kills security agent at Los Angeles airport
Two other people, one of them a security agent, were shot and at least four others were injured in the melee.
The Newyork Times reports that the gunman entered Terminal 3 just before 9:30 a.m., pulled a weapon from a bag and began firing as he forced his way through a security checkpoint, officials said. Airport police officers chased him through the bustling terminal as he continued to fire, before shooting him near a departure gate and arresting him.
The T.S.A. agent who was killed was the first to die in the line of duty since the agency was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, officials said.
Thousands of travelers throughout the airport were evacuated and flights were grounded for hours, with some incoming flights diverted to nearby airports and others held on the tarmac while the shooting unfolded. Passengers spent hours in waiting areas, parking lots and nearby hotels as they waited for flights to resume. Air traffic across the country was stalled in a ripple effect from the shutdown.
Federal officials identified the gunman as Paul Ciancia of Los Angeles, who had previously lived in New Jersey. A senior federal official said that he had a note with "antigovernment and anti-T.S.A. ramblings." Mr. Ciancia was being treated at a Los Angeles hospital, officials said.
Former
classmates
at
the
Salesianum
School,
a
private
boys' school
in
Wilmington,
Del.,
said
Mr.
Ciancia
was
a
quiet
student.
He
played
the
tuba
in
the
school
band
for
all
four
years
he
attended,
2004
to
2008,
said
Jesse
Sooy,
23.
"He
was
a
really
quiet
kid,"
Mr.
Sooy
said,
describing
a
slight
young
man,
no
taller
than
5-foot-7,
with
dark
brown
hair,
who
rarely
spoke
unless
spoken
to.
"His
dream
was
to
work
in
his
dad's
collision
company,"
Mr.
Sooy
said,
naming
it
as
Salem
County
Collision,
an
auto
repair
shop
in
Pennsville,
N.J.
"I
was
so
shocked
that
he
was
even
at
LAX."
In
Pennsville,
neighbors
of
the
Ciancia
family
described
them
as
hard-working
people
who
had
lived
in
the
community
for
at
least
20
years
and
kept
to
themselves.
"Paul,
the
father,
has
been
a
well-respected
businessman
here
for
many
years,
and
has
always
taken
care
of
people
well,"
said
Gary
Hankins,
who
lives
across
the
wooded
street
in
the
suburban
South
Jersey
community
of
about
14,000.
Rich
Garry,
68,
of
Fullerton,
Calif.,
said
he
had
been
at
Terminal
3
on
Friday
morning
headed
for
a
flight
to
New
York
to
visit
family
members.
He
said
that
a
security
officer
had
just
checked
his
boarding
pass
and
that
he
was
waiting
in
line
at
the
security
checkpoint
when
he
heard
two
shots.
"I heard a ‘pop-pop' and I looked down a floor below, and the T.S.A. guy was on the floor," he said. "He had been shot."
Mr. Garry said he believed it was the same security officer who had inspected his boarding pass.
As the gunman moved through the terminal, Mr. Garry said, "he was very calm. When he got to the top of the stairs where the security checkpoints are, he looked around. If he would have come up the ramp, he would have had a field day with all the people lying on the ground, like me."
Mr. Garry said he and several others crawled to a nearby elevator and went to the ground floor. Once there, he saw police officers for the first time, and told them to go to the second floor.
Joseph James, 32, who said he had just gotten off a flight in Terminal 3 and was leaving the building when he heard several shots behind him, said, "Several people were yelling, ‘Bomb! Bomb!' and that's what terrified me the most."
Leon Saryan, a traveler from Milwaukee, told the Milwaukee radio station WTMJ: "I was in the hallway cowering when the guy came through. And he had a rifle in his hand and he looked at me and he said ‘T.S.A.?' And I shook my head and he just kept going."
Many passengers dropped their bags as they rushed away from the terminal, leaving police officers with hundreds, if not thousands, of bags that they needed to screen.
At a news conference on Friday evening, Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles said
The gunman had 100 rounds that could have killed everyone in the terminal
A spokeswoman at Ronald Reagan U.C.L.A. Medical Center said that the hospital had admitted three male patients, two with gunshot wounds. One of the men who had been shot was in critical condition and the two others were in fair condition.
The T.S.A. identified the slain agent as Gerardo I. Hernandez, 39. Officials said he was working as a behavior detection officer, responsible for spotting suspicious activity.
Airport officials said 746 flights were affected by the shutdown and 46 flights were diverted to other airports. They said the backups would not be resolved quickly and advised passengers using Terminal 3 to check with their airlines on Saturday to see if operations had resumed.
The shooting was bound to raise new questions about security procedures at the nation's airports.
OneIndia News