A TSA agent has been shot and killed at Los Angeles International Airport. There are some unconfirmed reports that the shooter might be a TSA agent himself.

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KABC-TV Channel 7 (ABC 7), Los Angeles - Friday, November 1, 2013

LAX shooting: At least 3 shot, suspect in custody



LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- At least three people have been shot at Los Angeles International Airport Terminal 3, according to the LAPD. The victims' conditions are unknown at this time.

Authorities say the incident happened at about 9:30 a.m. At least one of the shooting victims is believed to be a TSA employee.

Law enforcement officials say as suspect has been "neutralized."

Kari Watson said she was at LAX Terminal 3 with her 3-year-old daughter moments before gunshots rang out.

"All of a sudden we heard people screaming 'Go, go, go!' and I heard a couple of pops that sounded like gunfire," she said. "People were just running, so we left everything on the ground and we took off."

Terminal 3 has been evacuated. LAPD's West Bureau and South Bureau are in tactical alert due to the shooting.

Departing flights have been temporarily held, but planes are being allowed to land at the airport. Century Boulevard is shut down, and motorists are advised to avoid the area.

Terminal 3 is the last terminal on the north side of the airport. Airlines that operate out of the terminal include Allegiant Air, Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit and Virgin America. LAX is the third largest airport in the U.S.

In response to the LAX shooting, airports in New York are increasing their "high-visibility heavy-weapon patrol," so there is an increased display of "heavy weapons." Officials say the effort is aimed at deterring copycats.

I was getting worried about the lack of shootings.
But all is as it should be.

It occurs to me that the proliferation of weapons is less of a problem now than the proliferation of hyperpatriot anti-government kooks.

Still, as far as we know, this is one of the closest someone has come to potentially shooting up or skyjacking a plane since 9/11/01. Possibly only the Shoe Bomber has come closer.

Mythbusters's Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara were at LAX when the shootings began. I was watching Anderson Cooper last night on CNN when he interviewed them live via telephone.



Tory and Grant indicated that they didn't see the gunman, but Grant heard the shots and they both saw the waves of panicked people fleeing the terminal. Later, they were ushered onto a runway tarmac.

If and when a video of that interview is made available, I'll post it.

Meanwhile, I found this short article this morning mentioning that the interview was scheduled to take place:

What indications are there that this was an attempt on aircraft?

I said "potentially" he might have gotten onto a plane. The indication being that he was at an airline terminal, shooting and moving in the direction of planes on the runway. Duh.

Ok. Just a bit of speculation/sensationalism, then.

LAX shooting suspect had sent suicidal text to sibling: police
Michael Rubinkam and Kathy Matheson, The Associated Press
Published Saturday, November 2, 2013 7:29AM EDT

PENNSVILLE, N.J. -- The father of the young man suspected of carrying out a fatal shooting at Los Angeles International Airport called his local police chief around the time of the shooting to report that his son had sent a suicidal text message to a sibling and he needed to find him, a New Jersey police chief said.

Paul Ciancia, the owner of an auto-body shop in southern New Jersey and father of the 23-year-old suspect of the same name, called Pennsville Police Chief Allen Cummings in the early afternoon to tell him one of his children had received a text message from the younger Ciancia "in reference to him taking his own life," the chief told The Associated Press.

Across the country and around the same time Friday, authorities say, his son was shooting his way past a security checkpoint at the airport with a semi-automatic rifle, killing a security officer and wounding other people. Ciancia was injured in a shootout and taken into custody, police said.

A motive wasn't clear, but Ciancia was wearing fatigues and carrying a bag containing a handwritten note that said he "wanted to kill TSA and pigs," according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Cummings said his police department in Pennsville, New Jersey, had never had dealings with the younger Ciancia, and neighbours in the working-class city of about 14,000 across the broad Delaware River from Wilmington, Delaware, didn't have a clue anything might have been wrong.

"He was never weird toward me. He never gave me any weird vibes," said 17-year-old neighbour Josh Pagan, adding that in the 10 years he has lived across the street from the Ciancia family, "they've been nothing but nice to us."

The suspect's father has been involved with Pennsville's Fraternal Order of Police, said Pagan's father, Orlando, a lieutenant in nearby Penns Grove. He didn't provide details on his involvement.

The suspect graduated in 2008 from Salesianum School, an all-boys Roman Catholic school in Wilmington, the school said.

Outside the father's home Friday in Pennsville, a police cruiser blocked the long driveway. Phone calls weren't answered, and efforts to reach siblings were also unsuccessful.

After getting the call from Ciancia's father, Chief Cummings reached out to Los Angeles police, who sent a patrol car to Ciancia's apartment, Cummings said. It wasn't clear whether the police visited before, during or after the airport shooting.

"Basically, there were two roommates there," Cummings said. "They said, 'We saw him yesterday and he was fine."'

He told Ciancia's father that because of his son's age, he couldn't take a missing persons report.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/lax-shootin ... z2jVPNOjak