TSA Agent Shot Dead At LAX

Chaos erupts amid gunfire inside airport terminal

WND

A gunman walked into Terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport Friday morning and opened fire at a security checkpoint, killing a Transportation Security Administration officer and wounding at least three other people, law enforcement sources tell CBS News.

The gunman “took an ‘assault rifle’ out of a bag and began to open fire into the terminal,” according to Patrick Gannon, the airport’s chief of police.

“He proceeded into the screening area and went past the screeners into the airport itself. Police tracked the individual through the airport and successfully took him into custody,” said Gannon at a news conference.

Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that the gunman was a TSA employee at LAX.

Federal officials, citing initial information, told NBC News that the suspect was a U.S. citizen in his early 20s.

UCLA Medical Center said it had one patient in critical condition and two in fair condition. One of the TSA workers was shot in the leg, said Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration.

“We are sickened by reports of today’s shooting at the Los Angeles International Airport,” TSA Union Leader J. David Cox Sr. said. “Our sincerest thoughts and prayers go out to the passengers and Transportation Security Officers killed or injured in this heinous act. Thank you to all of our brave TSOs who put their lives on the line every day to keep the flying public safe. AFGE is monitoring the situation along with TSA management.”

Los Angeles Police Department anti-terrorism officials were on the scene, but sources said they don’t believe the suspect was tied to any known terrorist groups.

A TSA agent holding Saryan’s shoes was shot and wounded, he told ABC.

Saryan said the gunman asked him, “Are you TSA?”

“He saw me. He looked at me with a quizzical look and said TSA? And I just shook my head. So he moved on,” Saryan said.

LAPD Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger says the suspect, who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle, was apparently injured in an exchange of gunfire.

Police, who shut down streets around the airport, said a possible second suspect was also taken into custody outside Terminal 2.