FBI: LAX gunman shot TSA agent, returned to shoot him again
LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 2: A Los Angeles Police Department officer and her canine leave after making a sweep of the re-opened Terminal 3 a day after a shooting at Los Angeles International Airport November 2, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. The airport is almost back to normal operations a day after a man pulled out an assault rifle and shot his way through security at Terminal 3, killing one Transportation Security Administration worker and wounding several others.
LOS ANGELES — Authorities are still trying to piece together why a young man allegedly brought an assault rifle into Los Angeles International Airport on Friday morning, killing a TSA agent and wounding four others.
Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, the suspect police have identified in the shooting remains "unresponsive" in a local hospital after being wounded in a shootout with police.
Felony charges have been filed against Ciancia for murdering a federal officer and committing violence at an international airport.
A criminal complaint filed Saturday alleges Ciancia fired a .223-caliber assault rifle at point-blank range, killing Transportation Security Agency officer Gerardo Hernandez, wounding two other TSA officers and two civilians.
FBI Special Agent David Bowdich said Ciancia shot Hernandez in a pre-screening area of the airport, then left and went up an escalator in Terminal 3.
Surveillance footage shows Ciancia turn around and reportedly see the officer moving, then went back to shoot again, the Associated Press reports.
Police found a handwritten note allegedly written by Ciancia addressed to TSA agents, writing that he wanted to "instill fear in your traitorous minds."
The note, found in the bag that carried ammunition, also said the alleged shooter had "made the conscious decision to try to kill" multiple TSA employees, said Bowdich.
"His intent was very clear in his note," he told reporters Saturday. "In that note he indicated his anger and his malice toward the TSA officers."
Ciancia allegedly had five magazines of ammunition that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said "could have literally killed everyone in that terminal."
A quick response by LAX officers Sgt. Steve Zouzounis and officer Brian Lopez, is credited for preventing more casualties.
LAX Police Chief Patrick Gannon said that airport police and LAPD participated in a training exercise last month to deal with mass shootings, according to LAX Police Chief Patrick Gannon.