- Feb 16, 2002
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<B>Egyptian Immigrant Is Airport Gunman</B>
By RYAN PEARSON LOS ANGELES (AP) - An Egyptian immigrant armed with guns and a knife opened fire 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, Calif., who came to the United States from Egypt 10 years ago, the FBI announced after an all-day investigation.
The man, who also goes by the last name Ali, was a legal resident who worked as a limousine driver, FBI spokesman Matt McLaughlin said. Authorities were searching a townhome in Irvine, 35 miles southeast of the airport, late Thursday.
The motive remained uncertain and there was no evidence anyone else was involved, McLaughlin said
``We've never said it's not terrorism,'' McLaughlin said. ``We can't rule that out, but there's nothing to indicate terrorism at this point.''
The FBI spokesman suggested that the attack might fall into the category of a hate crime and said the man was heavily armed.
``He had extra ammunition and magazines ready to go,'' McLaughlin said.
Police searched Hadayet's apartment in suburban Orange County, looking for his wife and two children, said Irvine police Lt. Sam Allevato. Neighbors told police the woman and children were in Egypt. A car was also searched at the apartment.
Allevato declined to say what police saw in the apartment, one of three units in the small building.
The gunman walked into the terminal with a .45-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol, a 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 p.m.
The gunman's car was found in an airport parking garage during the evening, triggering an evacuation of the structure and a precautionarey 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 Independence Day. It sent passengers ducking behind counters and hiding in airport offices. The ticket counter was about 100 yards from the nearest security checkpoint.
Israel's foreign ministry blamed terrorists, but didn't offer any evidence to support the claim.
Dr. David Parkus said he 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 Center, 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 for 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 spokesman 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 jewelry 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 Thursday, Flight 106 to Toronto and Tel Aviv, said David Douek, a spokesman for the Israeli consulate here. It was scheduled to depart at 4:10 p.m. In Israel early 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.
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 honor 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 spokesman Paul Heney. Some 900,000 people had been expected to pass through the airport over the holiday weekend from Wednesday through Sunday.
``The most frustrating thing for us is the lack of information,'' said Jeff Kramer, whose 5:15 p.m. flight to Dublin, Ireland, was delayed for at least three hours. Kramer's partner, Mary Wicker, ate peanuts and pretzels to pass the time. She said she felt neglected by airport authorities.
Greg Warren, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said the agency will review security procedures to see if something more needs to be done.
While current airport security doesn't screen people approaching ticket counters, a $9.6 billion redesign proposal for LAX announced just this week would require everyone coming to the airport to park away from the terminals and go through screening before boarding shuttles.
El Al, based in Israel, is known as one of the most security-conscious airlines in the world.
Last year, an Algerian who trained in terrorist camps financed by Osama bin Laden was convicted of plotting to blow up Los Angeles International at the height of the millennium holiday travel period. Ahmed Ressam had been arrested in Washington state on Dec. 14, 1999, while entering the country from Canada in a car with a trunk full of explosives.
Associated Press writer Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.
07/05/02 03:37 <SPAN class=readmore>© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.</SPAN>
<SPAN class=readmore></SPAN>
<SPAN class=readmore>Was it a terrorist attack? I think it was. What's your opinion on this?
</SPAN>
By RYAN PEARSON LOS ANGELES (AP) - An Egyptian immigrant armed with guns and a knife opened fire 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, Calif., who came to the United States from Egypt 10 years ago, the FBI announced after an all-day investigation.
The man, who also goes by the last name Ali, was a legal resident who worked as a limousine driver, FBI spokesman Matt McLaughlin said. Authorities were searching a townhome in Irvine, 35 miles southeast of the airport, late Thursday.
The motive remained uncertain and there was no evidence anyone else was involved, McLaughlin said
``We've never said it's not terrorism,'' McLaughlin said. ``We can't rule that out, but there's nothing to indicate terrorism at this point.''
The FBI spokesman suggested that the attack might fall into the category of a hate crime and said the man was heavily armed.
``He had extra ammunition and magazines ready to go,'' McLaughlin said.
Police searched Hadayet's apartment in suburban Orange County, looking for his wife and two children, said Irvine police Lt. Sam Allevato. Neighbors told police the woman and children were in Egypt. A car was also searched at the apartment.
Allevato declined to say what police saw in the apartment, one of three units in the small building.
The gunman walked into the terminal with a .45-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol, a 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 p.m.
The gunman's car was found in an airport parking garage during the evening, triggering an evacuation of the structure and a precautionarey 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 Independence Day. It sent passengers ducking behind counters and hiding in airport offices. The ticket counter was about 100 yards from the nearest security checkpoint.
Israel's foreign ministry blamed terrorists, but didn't offer any evidence to support the claim.
Dr. David Parkus said he 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 Center, 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 for 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 spokesman 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 jewelry 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 Thursday, Flight 106 to Toronto and Tel Aviv, said David Douek, a spokesman for the Israeli consulate here. It was scheduled to depart at 4:10 p.m. In Israel early 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.
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 honor 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 spokesman Paul Heney. Some 900,000 people had been expected to pass through the airport over the holiday weekend from Wednesday through Sunday.
``The most frustrating thing for us is the lack of information,'' said Jeff Kramer, whose 5:15 p.m. flight to Dublin, Ireland, was delayed for at least three hours. Kramer's partner, Mary Wicker, ate peanuts and pretzels to pass the time. She said she felt neglected by airport authorities.
Greg Warren, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said the agency will review security procedures to see if something more needs to be done.
While current airport security doesn't screen people approaching ticket counters, a $9.6 billion redesign proposal for LAX announced just this week would require everyone coming to the airport to park away from the terminals and go through screening before boarding shuttles.
El Al, based in Israel, is known as one of the most security-conscious airlines in the world.
Last year, an Algerian who trained in terrorist camps financed by Osama bin Laden was convicted of plotting to blow up Los Angeles International at the height of the millennium holiday travel period. Ahmed Ressam had been arrested in Washington state on Dec. 14, 1999, while entering the country from Canada in a car with a trunk full of explosives.
Associated Press writer Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.
07/05/02 03:37 <SPAN class=readmore>© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.</SPAN>
<SPAN class=readmore></SPAN>
<SPAN class=readmore>Was it a terrorist attack? I think it was. What's your opinion on this?
</SPAN>
