LOS
ANGELES, July 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Three people died
Thursday, July 4, when a gunman opened fire on the Israeli national
airline El-Al’s ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport,
the world’s fourth-busiest, police said.
Although
the Israeli Government was swift to call the shooting a terrorist
incident, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said there was no
indication the shootings were connected to terrorism and that the
gunman had acted alone, BBC’s online news service reported.
Police
said a 52-year-old man who opened fire in the terminal around 11:30 am
(1830 GMT) was gunned down by an El-Al security officer. A 46-year-old
man and a 20-year-old women died later in hospital, Los Angeles Police
Department spokesman Alex Baez said. Some seven other people were
injured.
Witnesses
to the attack said the gunman - a stocky, middle-aged man with
features described as Middle Eastern or Latino - grew agitated while
talking to a ticket agent at the El Al counter. He then pulled out a
gun and shot her, and began firing at people in line, reports the Los
Angeles Times.
The
paper also reports witnesses said the El Al security guard shot the
man once at close range after the attacker had been disarmed and was
being held on the floor. Two men struggled to hold down the shooter,
who was lying on his back, when another El Al security guard ran over,
stood over the gunman and shot him once in the abdomen.
An
FBI official in Los Angeles, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
the gunman carried no identification and investigators were trying to
identify him through other means, including fingerprints, reports the
Times.
Richard
Garcia, the chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Los
Angeles office, said that at this point law enforcement officials were
“not aware of anything else that might be related to this,”
calling the shooting an “isolated incident.”
Authorities
said there was no indication the motive was political, reports the
Times. However, CNN reported FBI Special Agent Matthew McLaughlin as
saying, “At this point, it’s too early to rule out anything.”
The
incident forced the evacuation of the international terminal there,
delaying 20 outbound flights and 6,000 passengers.
Los
Angeles Mayor James Hahn and Los Angeles Police Department chief
Martin Pomeroy also described the incident as isolated and said
Independence Day revelers should continue with their celebrations
plans.
Said
California Governor Gray David, “This is America’s birthday ... so
please continue with your celebration.”
Initial
Israeli reaction was to assume the incident as a terrorist attack.
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| Police remove
what is believed to be the body of the gunman
|
“When
a gunman opens fire on El-Al passengers at an international airport,
you have to assume it is terrorism,” Transportation Minister Ephraim
Sneh said on CNN.
News
agencies report that Israel’s foreign ministry blamed terrorists,
but didn't offer any evidence to support the claim.
Yuval
Rotem, the Israel consul general in Los Angeles, said all indications
pointed to terrorism. He said the gunman “looked like a Middle
Eastern person.”
“It
would appear to be a terrorist attack,” he told a press conference.
In
December 1985, an El-Al ticket counter in Rome was attacked, killing
13 people, and in Vienna, killing three.
But
Garcia insisted that “right now it is a coincidence” that the
incident occurred near the El-Al counter, adding there was no
information that led law enforcement to look for anyone else.
LAPD
Lieutenant Horace Franks said two people were in custody for
questioning. They were likely to be turned over to the FBI as the
federal agency assumed the lead on the investigation.
A
member of the El-Al security detail was among the seven people taken
to the hospital, officials said. CNN, citing a representative from the
Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, reported he was Chaim Safir, the
security chief for the airline at LAX, and was being treated for a
stab wound. It was Safir who killed the assailant, CNN reported.
Among
the injured, Hahn said, was a woman shot in the leg and another woman
who complained of chest pains.
A
Federal Aviation Administration official said the level of security
alert at the airport had not been raised as a result of the shooting
and five hours after the incident the airport resumed normal
operation.
Thad
Weimlein, a passenger preparing to take an international flight from
the Bradley terminal, told CNN that after the “initial flurry of
fire” there was “silence.”
“Today
was supposed to be a pretty secure day,” he told the news channel.
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| Thousands of
travelers returned to the international terminal of the Los
Angeles International Airport after being evacuated
|
Isaac
Yeffet, the former director of general security for the airline, told
MSNBC that the security guard acted appropriately by fatally shooting
the gunman.
“Security
surround[s] the passengers in different positions to make sure that if
a terrorist is coming to open fire he will be killed immediately. And
this is what happened,” he said, noting two previous attempts by
would-be terrorists in public areas at Paris and Brussels airports
were contained “after 30 seconds” by El-Al security.
“If
he comes to kill he has to be killed immediately.”
