Shooting Spree at LAX

  Thanx NY Daily News

TSA worker dead after AR-15 rifle rampage inside Los Angeles International Airport Terminal 3.   Gunman Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, 'wanted to kill TSA and pigs' when he opened fire at a security checkpoint in California. TSA worker Gerardo Hernandez was killed, and at least one other worker was wounded.

 

 

LAX shooting suspect Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, who allegedly opened fire around 9:20 a.m. while approaching the Terminal 3 security checkpoint.

 

Panicked New Jersey family members asked police to check on Paul Ciancia early Friday afternoon after receiving a text message in which he talked of committing suicide. But on the other side of the country, Ciancia wasn’t killing himself. Instead, the 23-year-old opened fire in a Los Angeles International Airport terminal teeming with adults and children, and he killed a TSA worker.

 

 Emergency workers transfer a wounded TSA officer to a waiting ambulance after a shooting in Terminal 3 at LAX.

 

Ciancia wore black and carried a bag containing a handwritten note proclaiming he “wanted to kill TSA and pigs,” said a law enforcement official at LAX who was briefed on the investigation. The gunman was calm as he walked into Terminal 3 around 9:20 a.m. Pacific time, authorities said, pulling out the firearm and becoming the latest loner to go on a shooting rampage.

Police patrol Los Angeles International Airport following a shooting inside Terminal 3 on Friday. 

 

The madman, an L.A. resident originally from Pennsville, N.J., walked up to terrified travelers in his path, simply asking if they “were TSA,” the Los Angeles Times reported. People who answered “no” were spared, but Ciancia managed to blow away one TSA worker — 39-year-old Gerardo Hernandez, the first to die in the line of duty — with his AR-15 assault rifle and wound another, authorities said. In all, seven people were injured and six were treated at hospitals.

 

 

A man was seen handcuffed to a stretcher following the shooting at LAX airport. 

 

The barrage of bullets sent bystanders running for cover as Ciancia calmly strolled the airport, witnesses told the Daily News  “It was surreal,” said Tom Lagos, who saw the killer in the airport. “My wife and I were waiting for our flight to Newark at Gate 33 in the Virgin terminal, and we just saw a stampede of people headed in our direction with incredible fear in their eyes.”

Lagos said several TSA agents opened emergency exits so people could escape on the tarmac. He said he helped his wife to safety, but turned back for their luggage — and spotted the gunman stalking through the terminal.

 The atmosphere at LAX airport after the shooting on Friday.

 

“He was alone, wearing a lot of baggy clothes and a dark flannel shirt,” Lagos recalled. “He was a slender, young white guy and walking with this long gun. It was so eerie. He wasn’t in a hurry, not really engaging anyone. He looked like he was moving in a methodical way.”
Ciancia managed to get deep into the terminal before he was shot and taken into custody, authorities said. He is currently at an undisclosed hospital, and his condition is still unclear.

Police escort a man in a wheelchair andsuspect Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, opened fire in Terminal

 

Sgt. Steve Zouzounis and Officer Brian Lopez — the two Los Angeles airport cops who shot Ciancia — were not hurt, law enforcement sources told The News. The shooter sent his brother a text that said he was “thinking about taking his life,” according to reports. The brother told his father, who reported the disturbing text to Pennsville cops around 1 p.m. Eastern time. a man with a bloody hand toward medical help on Friday at LAX after

Passengers flee the Los Angeles International Airport on Friday after shots were fired, prompting authorities to evacuate a terminal and stop flights headed for the city from taking off from other airports.

 

 

This graphic shows where in LAX  events occurred.
 

 

But when officers arrived at Ciancia’s apartment, his roommates said he was gone. They said he didn’t show any signs that anything was amiss. By Friday afternoon, police and media were swarming the family’s southwestern New Jersey home, which neighbors described as a “mansion.” Neighbors said the Ciancia clan is well-liked, and Paul had once worked for his father’s auto body shop.
“The family is very nice,” said neighbor Josh Pagan, 17. “We lived here for 10 years, and we’ve never heard anything bad about them. From what I’ve heard, (the suspect) was nothing but a nice guy.”
Alan Levitsky, owner of a nearby tavern, said Ciancia was always respectful.

 

TSA worker Gerardo Hernandez was killed when Ciancia opened fire inside a busy terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.
 

 

“Growing up, he was always a nice, quiet boy,” Levitsky told the News. “This is really a shock to anybody in this community."
Even Alan Cummings, the Salem County town’s police chief who was participating in the investigation, had only kind words for the family. He said he knows the suspect’s father, who is a member of the police union in Salem County. “They’re doing all right,” Cummings said upon leaving the house Friday evening. “They’re good people.”

 Hailey Gomez naps in her mother Christine's lap after their flight home to Hawaii Friday morning had been delayed inside Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport.

 

 

 Crowds wait in Los Angeles International Airport Friday after police lock the area down because of the shooting.

 

Ciancia graduated in 2008 from the all-boys Catholic Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del., which was rocked by sex abuse lawsuits. A classmate portrayed the gunman as a loner and victim of bullying.
“In four years, I never heard a word out of his mouth,” David Hamilton, who graduated with Ciancia, told the Los Angeles Times. “He kept to himself and ate lunch alone a lot. I really don’t remember any one person who was close to him.”

 

A traveler lies on a conveyor belt following the shooting at LAX.

 

As gunshots rang out in Terminal 3, panicked fliers dropped to the ground. Those who had made it past security fled onto the tarmac or sought cover inside restaurants and lounges.
“My whole thing was to get away from him,” said Xavier Savant, an advertising creative director who was heading to New York with his family for a weekend trip.

Flights were able to take off Friday night, but the airport was operating at only half capacity. Here, travelers wait at LAX after the shooting.
 

Police escort a man in a wheelchair toward medical help during a shooting Friday at Los Angeles International Airport.

 

Of the 746 flights affected by the shooting, 46 were diverted to other local airports and the rest were held on the ground, airport officials said. The “extensive” crime scene is currently undergoing “a very large-scale investigation,” FBI officials said. They added the terminal would not reopen for a while.

 

Among the many stranded travelers was Academy Award-nominated actor James Franco, who tweeted a photo of himself waiting aboard an airplane on the tarmac.
“At #lax Some s** t bag shot up the place,” he captioned a photo of himself staring out the window from his seat.

 

A man was loaded into an ambulance after a shooting at LAX airport. 

 

Flights were still able to take off Friday night, but officials warned travelers to stay away from the airport, which was only operating at about half capacity. Rand Beers, acting secretary of Homeland Security, put out a statement offering sympathy to the relatives of the killed worker and the other victims.
“This act of violence reminds us of the risks the brave men and women of TSA face every day as they work to protect the traveling public,” Beers said.