A Florida man shot and critically wounded a 24-year-old woman with a sawed off shotgun Wednesday afternoon at Armstrong International airport.
Patrick Gott, 43, of Pensacola, Florida is in custody for the shooting. Witnesses said that he attempted to fire off additional shots before his gun jammed and bystanders wrestled him to the ground.
The unidentified victim is in critical condition at Kenner Regional Medical Center. A spokesman for the hospital says she is in surgery. She was shot in the stomach area.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee says another person nearby sustained very minor injuries from a shotgun pellet.
Lee told a gathering of reporters that the man said he fired because people in the airport were making fun of his turban.
“That’s his story,” said Lee. “We don’t know what really happened.”
The shooting happened near the airport’s ticket counter, away from the area where screeners check luggage prior to a passenger’s boarding a plane.
A spokesperson for the airport says that flight schedules haven’t been affected, however, there are long lines outside of the building as much of the ticket counter has been cordoned off as a crime scene. Tickets are being taken outside of the facility.
Jonathon Jenkins, an eyewitness to the shooting, recalled that he heard what sounded like an explosion.
"Everyone scattered. Everyone went down in the middle of the lobby. I went down and when I came up I noticed a man with a shotgun in his hand... he was approaching the Southwest ticket counter... he went to pump the gun again and it jammed."
Jenkins said that a person at the ticket counter then jumped on the suspect and authorities came in.
Man Opens Fire At Armstrong (Local NBC TV
KENNER, La. -- A woman was shot Wednesday at Louis Armstrong International Airport, and police are still trying to determine a motive and her relationship -- if any -- to the alleged attacker.
The suspect, Patrick Gott, 43, of Pensacola, Fla., is in custody.
Gott, who was wearing a turban and carrying a copy of the Quran, told investigators that he fired because people in the airport made fun of his headwear.
The incident occurred at 3:37 p.m., according to airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc.
Witnesses said the woman was approached as she stood in a ticket line near the Southwest Airlines and US Airways ticket counters by Gott, who pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and fired once, hitting her in the stomach.
An airline employee also reportedly was grazed by buckshot from the blast.
As Gott allegedly tried to reload, he was tackled by an airline employee and another man, who held him until police arrived.
"I thought it was an explosion," a US Airways employee said. "I went down, I got back up and I noticed this gentleman here -- the gunman, with a shotgun. He went to pump for a second time, the gun jams. He goes up with the gun to pump for a third time, and a customer jumps on him and then some other individuals got involved also."
The 45-year-old woman, whose name is not being released, was taken to Kenner Regional Medical Center, where she is in critical condition, a hospital spokesman said.
Because the shooting took place in an airport, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and Kenner police are being joined in the investigation by the FBI.
Duffourc said airport operations are returning to normal.