An Egyptian immigrant armed with guns and a knife opened fire on Thursday at the Los Angeles International Airport ticket counter of Israeli airline El Al, killing two people before an airline security guard shot him dead.
The gunman was Hesham Mohamed Hadayet (41) a resident of Irvine, California, who came to the United States from Egypt 10 years ago, the FBI announced after an all-day investigation. The incident occurred on the US Independence Day.
The man, who also goes by the last name Ali, was a legal US resident who worked as a limousine driver, FBI representative Matt McLaughlin said. Authorities were searching a townhouse in Irvine, in Orange County southeast of Los Angeles, late on Thursday.
The motive remained uncertain and there was no evidence anyone else was involved, McLaughlin said.
”We’ve never said it’s not terrorism,” he said. ”We can’t rule that out, but there’s nothing to indicate terrorism at this point.”
The gunman walked into the terminal with a .45-caliber handgun, 9 mm handgun and a six-inch knife, but carrying no identification, said Ron Iden, assistant director of the Los Angeles FBI office.
Four other people were injured, including two El Al security guards, the FBI said.
Thousands were evacuated from the international terminal, although the Federal Aviation Administration said domestic arrivals and departures continued to operate normally, and the international terminal reopened after 9 pm.
The gunman’s car was found in an airport parking garage during the evening, triggering an evacuation of the structure and a precautionary search by a bomb squad.
Neither explosives nor anything unusual was found in the black Mercedes, said Los Angeles police Sgt. John Pasquariello.
The shootout happened with security on high alert around the country for a possible terrorist attack on the Fourth of July. It sent passengers ducking behind counters and hiding in airport offices. The ticket counter was about 100 meters from the nearest security checkpoint.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry blamed terrorists, but didn’t offer any evidence to support the claim.
Dr David Parkus heard five or six shots in quick succession, and turned from the Singapore Airlines counter to see the gunman wrestling with an El Al security guard. A second guard then charged and shot the gunman, Parkus said.
As the gunman collapsed, Parkus said he saw a long hunting knife fall to the floor. One guard was hit on the forehead with the butt of the gun and cut on the right arm, and the second guard was cut on the lower back, stabbed on the left thigh, and had a superficial gunshot wound to his right thigh, said Parkus, a trauma surgeon from Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont, Texas.
Parkus said he helped hold the gunmen as he died, then performed CPR on two victims.
One of the victims was Yaakov Aminov (46). He died of gunshot wounds less than an hour after arriving at Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Centre, said his brother-in-law, Mark Ezerzer.
The FBI said the gunman also fatally shot a 20-year-old woman who was a ticket agent at the El Al counter. El Al said she was an employee of a company that provides ground services to the airline.
A 61-year-old woman was shot in the ankle, a 40-year-old man was knifed, a man in his 20s was treated for injuries from a pistol whipping, and a 63-year-old woman was treated for chest pains, said Los Angeles police representative Alex Baez.
Aminov has eight children, and his second wife is pregnant with their sixth child together, Ezerzer said at the family’s North Hollywood home, where relatives gathered Thursday night. An Orthodox Jew, Aminov owned a jewellery shop.
”It’s a big tragedy,” said brother-in-law Mike Moshe. ”On Friday night dinners, it was like a king’s house. There was food everywhere.”
Aminov had taken his friend, Michael Shabtay, to the airport. After being caught in the spray of gunfire, Aminov collapsed in Shabtay’s arms, Ezerzer said.
El Al had one flight scheduled out of Los Angeles on Thursday, Flight 106 to Toronto and Tel Aviv, said David Douek, a representative for the Israeli consulate here. It was scheduled to depart at 4:10 pm. In Israel early on Friday, El Al said about 10 passengers were checking in for the flight when the attack began and about 80 others already had passed through the area. El Al, based in Israel, is known as one of the most security-conscious airlines in the world.
The governor praised the airline’s response, saying security agents acted quickly and prevented a greater loss of life.
Expressing outrage and sadness, Gov. Gray Davis said, ”That it happened on the day on which we honour what America stands for – liberty, security and diversity – makes this particularly more tragic.”
”My heart, as well of those of all Californians, aches for the victims of this shooting and their families,” he said.
Witness Hakin Hasidh (43) of Dusseldorf, Germany, said he was standing in the line next to the El Al counter. After hearing two shots, he turned and saw the gunman fire at passengers in line.
”The first couple of shots, everybody just stood there, frozen like I was,” Hasidh said. ”It’s really hard to tell whether he was aiming at the counter, at people behind the counter or at people in line.”
Five hours after the shooting, most of the international terminal was reopened. Thirty-five flights were delayed, for as long as eight hours, affecting 10 500 passengers, said airport representative Paul Heney.
Some 900 000 people had been expected to pass through the airport over the holiday weekend from Wednesday until Sunday. – Sapa-AP