Posted on 07/06/2002 8:39:42 AM PDT by Jethro Tull
July 5 2002
A gunman who killed two people before being shot by an Israeli agent at the counter of Israel's airline El Al at Los Angeles airport was an Egyptian immigrant on an FBI watchlist, officials said today.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified the gunman as 41-year-old Hesham Mohamed Hadayet who moved to the United States 10 years ago and worked as a limousine driver, FBI spokesman Matthew McLaughlin said.
The identity of the gunman, who was overpowered and shot by an EL AL security agent after killing a check-in clerk and a middle-aged man yesterday, fuelled fears that the attack could be a terrorist strike against Israel.
"There might be some terrorist links," McLaughlin told reporters, adding that Hadayet was "heavily" armed with two pistols and a knife.
However he stressed that the investigation was in its early stages, and that at this point the incident would probably be characterised as a hate crime.
The FBI and local police officers were meanwhile searching the suspect's home in Orange County, near Los Angeles, after recovering evidence from his car at Los Angeles International Airport.
"We went through the normal procedures of investigation, we ran weapons, we ran vehicles, and we got into his residence," McLaughlin said, adding that authorities would pursue the investigation "aggressively."
A senior Israeli official in Jerusalem meanwhile said Israel had "no doubt" that the fatal shooting attack Los Angeles was a terrorist attack.
"There's no doubt (for Israel) that the shooting at El Al counter at Los Angeles airport was a terrorist attack," the official said on condition of anonymity. "We're now waiting for the official results of the investigation."
Earlier FBI officials had said there was no indication that the attack was a terror strike targeting the Jewish state, even as the United States was under an "elevated" level of alert as it celebrated its first July 4 independence day since last year's September 11 terror attacks on US targets.
"We have no reason to believe this was an act of terrorism," said Ronald Idem, assistant director of the Los Angeles FBI Office, adding that the man had no air ticket or identification in his possession.
Hadayet was not an American citizen but had a "green card" (given to US residents) allowing him to work as a limousine driver, McLaughlin said. Reports said his wife and children were currently in Egypt and that a search was underway for other relatives.
Police said the suspect, who opened fire in the terminal around 11:30 am, was gunned down by an El Al security officer in the skirmish, the full details of which remain unclear.
A 46-year-old orthodox Jewish man who was seeing off friends and a 25-year-old El Al check-in clerk, identified as Victoria Hen of Los Angeles, died later in hospital. Some seven other people were injured.
FBI agents said the gunman was armed with a .45 calibre handgun and had another 9mm handgun and a 15-centimetre knife in his possession.
One of the seven people injured in the attack was El-Al's security chief at Los Angeles airport Chaim Safir, whom reports said had shot and killed the gunman and was being treated for a stab wound.
The other injured included a woman shot in the leg and another woman who complained of chest pains.
"Witness accounts indicate that no words were spoken," by the gunman before he opened fire, Ron Idem, assistant special FBI agent in charge, told reporters, adding that the attack appeared to be an "isolated incident."
Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn and Los Angeles Police Department chief Martin Pomeroy had also described the incident as isolated.
But initial Israeli reaction was to assume the incident as a terrorist attack.
"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.
Yuval Rotem, the Israel consul general in Los Angeles, said all indications pointed to terrorism.
"It would appear to be a terrorist attack," he told a press conference , recalling that in December 1985 Arab militants attacked El Al ticket counters in Rome, killing 13 people, and Vienna, killing three.
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.
However some 20 flights were delayed by as much as eight hours, affecting around 10,500 passengers, airport officials said.
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/05/1025667057580.html
He spoke before he had been informed on what he was to say.
How can one believe anything reported as news any longer. All of the news that alarms us is manipulated for the sake of political expediency.
The government provides information much for the same reason a drunk uses a lamp post; more for support than for illumination.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified the gunman as 41-year-old Hesham Mohamed Hadayet who moved to the United States 10 years ago and worked as a limousine driver, FBI spokesman Matthew McLaughlin said.
I posted that Hadayet was on the FBI's watch list HERE, on Thursday night, as reported by KABC 7 in Los Angeles. The FBI's spokesman on the ground on the 4th was Matt McLaughlin... wonder if he was KABC's source?
Shorly after, there was a flurry of reports on CNN, MSNBC, and Agent Garcia of the FBI that Hadayet wasn't on any FBI watch lists.
It appears the Bureau needs to get their story straight.
The "Lone Abdul Theory" is in for some trouble.
Yep. Let's the spinning start.
The Aussie Sydney Herald , is that a Murdoch paper?
I wonder if they are just parroting the slivers of info we have seen over here.
He was lying. You're shocked, right?
AIRPORT ATTACK
It was terror, El Al victim's family says
The family of one of the victims of the shooting at an Israeli airline check-in desk in Los Angeles slammed the US Government yesterday for not classifying the killings as a terror attack. Full report
"Alas!" answered the girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how to do it". "What will you give me," said the manikin, "if I do it for you?"
Oh, Hooray.
What BS, anyone could write an article saying so and so was on an FBI watchlist. I could! Does that make it true?
I remember that being the case, too. Not on any watchlist. I have also never noted this particular website before. Is it reliable?
Before I get flamed, I believe it was a terrorist act --- I don't care if it was a lone gunman. Also, if I have to hear one more news-reader say ..."the FBI still don't have a motive ...", I'm going to throw something through my t.v. Hatred (hello!), hatred is the motive --- no other one needed for an Islamofascist.
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