Egyptian police question family of slain suspect
July 5, 2002 Posted: 07:30:11 AM PDT
By RAWYA RAGEH Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Police questioned the father and wife of the Egyptian who shot two people dead at Los Angeles airport, security guards at the father's apartment building said Friday.
Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, 41, opened fire in Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, killing two people at Israel's El Al ticket counter before being shot and killed by an airline guard.
The FBI said Friday there was nothing to indicate the shooting was a terror attack but also said it could not rule out terrorism.
Hadayet, an Egyptian limousine driver, had lived in the United States for 10 years and was married with two children. Police who went to his home in Irvine, Calif., on Thursday were told Hadayet's wife and children had left for Egypt.
Egyptian police arrived at the apartment of Hadayet's father in downtown Cairo Friday morning, the building's security guards said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The guards would not let reporters go up to the apartment, which is in a well-kept, six-story building in Abbasiya, a middle-income area of the city.
Hassan Mostafa Mahfouz, the husband of Hadayet's aunt, said the deceased shooter's wife and sister were taken away for questioning by Egyptian intelligence.
Mahfouz, a retired general, said the news of the airport shooting left him in disbelief.
Hadayet's mother, father and two children were in the apartment, Mahfouz told The Associated Press.
Hadayet listed July 4 - the day of the shootout - as his birthday on one of his two Californian driver's licenses. The other license said his birthday was April 7. Both licenses gave his year of birth as 1961.
Mahfouz said that July 4 was Hadayet's birthday and that Hadayet had called his father on Thursday as he knew his father would want to wish him happy birthday.
Hadayet's mother, father and two children were in the apartment, Mahfouz told The Associated Press.
A woman who lives in the same building as Hadayet's father said she last saw Hesham Hadayet four or five years ago.
"He is a disciplined, average Egyptian citizen," she said, identifying herself only by the first name Mai.
...unintentionally speaking the truth...
Wake up America!
THE "IMMIGRATION FREE FOR ALL" MUST END!
Looks like a common error--"4/7/61" instead of "7/4/61." Many countries write the date dd/mm/yy, which could turn the July 4th birthdate into an April 7 birthdate.