FBI: LA Airport gunman was an Egyptian-born resident of Irving, California

Ha'aretz ^ | July 5th 2002 | News Agencies

[ChicagoRepublican]

According to the ticker on top of Ha'aretz the FBI is reporting that the LA Airport gunman was an Egyptian-born resident of Irving, California.

[PJeffQ]

It was 5 Willowrun

[Marine Inspector]

Thanks for the ping.

I've been following it on the news since I got home from work.

Almost had to work OT. We were in line to get some of LAX's diverted flights from Mexico. They did not come, so I don't know were they went.

[PJeffQ]

no

[Mo1]

CNN Link to story

[per loin]

What can you expect from jerks that live their lives in submission to a chunk of meteorite that now lives in a big square box out in the desert.

[Sabertooth]

Grampa, Jeff Head raised a troubling spectre today that crossed my mind as well. What if today's incident was a practice run to observe the evacuation and crisis response procedures, time frames and security vulnerabilities. Thousands of people were sent outside the terminal - mobbing and surrounding the LAX access and private passenger dropoff throughways where unfettered traffic flow occurs. A loaded van meandering through that evacuated mob ... I trust Jeff's instincts and alarm here. It's a huge vulnerability. What do you think about that scenario?

I think Jeff Head just won "Pin the Tail on the Sphinx."

[Mo1]

What is it about these people with their cold lifeless eyes. Everytime the eyes say "I have no soul".

They look like a black hole

[Dave S]

I'm not saying that he was part of a larger terrorist plot, just that the FBI would not tell us if the man was arab or not

If I showed you two corpses similarly dressed, one an arab and one a jew, you likely wouldnt be able which was which. Many would not be able to differentiate between some Hispanics and Arabs. Its not as simple as take a look and if the skin is a certain color, the guy is an arab. At the other extreme, Jasmine Bleethe, the sexy fox on Nash Bridges TV show is of arab descent and she has a pale complection.

I dont fault the FBI for not making an immediate annoucement. There were already so many incorrect facts about the case being passed around, if they had two different ages for the guy, it would make sense to find out which is correct and whether the guy is who his finger prints suggest he was. The last thing the FBI wanted to do is say something INCORRECT and then have to correct it. Then you have all the conspricy nuts claiming a cover up or that the guy was a patsy setup by the Israelis and the CIA or some other such nonesense.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I would appreciate it if you or anyone else would ping me with a source if it's reported again that this perp was on a FBI watch list. Thanks Grampa......

I can't find any sources, or reports of that...yet....

[patriciaruth]

Reminds me more of that teenage kid in Florida who stole the plane and flew it into the insurance building.

Difference: The kid killed only himself. When you kill others while telling people to read the Koran you are a terrorist.

However, in my opinion the kid was also a terrorist. He praised Usama bin Laden and flew into the Bank of America building.

[newsperson999]

I'm sorry..this guy looks 100% arab..yet it took the FBI 9 hours to admit he was an arab and still won't call this a terrorist attack(then or now)..all the media sources earlier were quoting FBI people as saying it wasn't terroist related..I thought maybe it was because it was bordline rather the guy was an Arab..well take a look at the picture...
You have a man that is clearly Arab, brings 2 guns with ammo clips and a knife into LAX, targets the Israeli terminal and yet FBI believes it wasn't terrorist related.
what a joke!

[seeker41]

I was actually thinking "demonic" possession, followers of the evil one. I'd say we're close in our perceptions.

[Grampa Dave]

If those El Al guards had not been armed, it could have been a nightmare. What if the guy came just to shoot and stab people in and around the El Al ticket counter?

Then, the clymer mayor of LA was upset that they had guns. More of the left wing late term abortion policy. Let the bad guys shoot and kill us, and then bag us after the police are called.

[Joe Hadenuf]

And don't forget about the reported note on the perps door.

[per loin]

Yes. I've never trusted that piece of rock.

[Sabertooth]

CNN Headline News has said he was NOT on the FBI watch list, I will post the link as soon as it's available

Well, if you can't trust CNN...?

Actually, KABC has had it wrong a few times today, so maybe they got that wrong too.

Either way, what do you wanna bet, a lot of Orange County Egyptians will be taking leaves-of-absence next week?

[Mo1]

I think our guards need to take lessons from El Al guards

[seeker41]

If I were in charge, the rock and it's surroundings would be dust blowin in the wind.

[CedarDave]

Yeah, I guess you could consider a crime committed by members of a religion that preaches death to non-Muslims a hate crime, though I'd think a terrorist act is more to the point. Splitting hairs by the FBI to appear to remain PC does nothing to instill a great amount of confidence in their ability to stop these acts before they occur.

[ArneFufkin]

PJeff, the one thing that gives me pause ... why did he choose this methodology for his attack? This is not Martyrdom1001 MO. He chose a handgun, knowing he would be killed, when a corset of explosives would have been more deadly efficient. As would a shotgun or some high capacity semi-automatic rifle. He did this half-ass. Not by the numbers. Why? This is getting really speculative, but did he want an incident that was a full blown security breach, exposing the processes and reactions ... but limited enought to not disrupt the normal operations of LAX? Something is weird about this thing ... either this guy is a free agent who was making his own entreprenurial play for the virgins and used just the resources at hand. Or, it was a limited objective mission, a foray of sorts.