New Orleans Airport Shooting Wounds 2
(AP) | DOUG SIMPSON
KENNER, La. -- A man wounded two people with a shotgun at the New Orleans airport Wednesday, telling investigators that he fired because people made fun of his turban. "That's his story. We don't know what really happened," Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee said.
The shotgun blast wounded an airline customer in the stomach and an airline employee in the hand, the sheriff said. The gunman was tackled by bystanders in the ticket lobby of Louis Armstrong International Airport. The shooting occurred in the cavernous lobby, away from the concourses where security screeners check for weapons. Flights continued but delays were reported. Lee identified the suspect as Patrick Gott, 43, of Pensacola, Fla. He said Gott was carrying a Quran and invoked the name of Allah. The sheriff said Gott told deputies he was in the terminal when people began making fun of his turban. He told investigators that he left the terminal, took a duffel bag with a shotgun out of his car, went back inside and fired, Lee said.
Witnesses said the gun may have misfired or jammed. "I heard one very loud boom," said Mary Ann Rouanet, a US Airways ticketing agent.
She said she ducked behind the counter and heard a series of clicks. Other employees scrambled through the baggage conveyor. Another witness, Jonathon Jenkins, told WWL television that the shooter was subdued by another man after the gun apparently jammed.
Good thing they didnt see his small sex ring!