BREAKING: Shooting at LAX, several possibly injured.

ABC News Special Report | 07/04/02 | Sonserae

[sonserae]

Shooting at LAX, several injured....

[PJeffQ]

Hahn:
Several flights (missed the number) delayed...
6000 passengers kept out of terminal until 4:15 PDT, south terminal reopened.... north terminal closed until FBI concludes - normal airport operations resumed...

Security is good, reassessing plan - additional LAPD resources the rest of the weekend at LAX...

People shoud enjoy the rest of their day,
no reason to believe we need to do anything different...

A to a question: security perimeter is to keep people from getting on a plane with a weapon - looking at any addition security.... present layout not designed with security in mind - space constraints - will contact TSA about possibly moving perimeter... security is evolving science...

A to another question: security personnel will re-evaluate what theyre doing - LAX one of the last airports to reopen central terminal area to vehicles...

Pomeroy:
initial response and what it means for the weekend -
great number of resources available... immediately and rapid response - crime scene secured, public's safety upheld... airport police responded rapidly...

nothing going on to indicate increased risk or credible threat in LA for the rest of the evening or weekend, reccomend events continue... reallocating police to LAX....
want comfort level high for traveling public

some questions need to be asked tomorrow or monday cant be answered today...

Q: el al killed with a gun? are airlines usually carrying?
A: referred to Garcia.

Garcia, FBI:
Ron Knight of LA office en route, Jana Monroe of FBI also with Garcia for questions.

appears to be isolated event, coordinating with locals
not tied to anything else that may be going on rest of country... info may or may not be true about El Al security being armed or circumstances - cant answer that one way or another... part of the investigation

determining who fired and who had what weapons are part of investigation...

cant identify suspect... still trying to find the "true" identity of the suspect...

A to question said appearances can be wrong - visual appearance of being arab can be wrong, could be hispanic or something else....

checking video surveillance cams in the area...

gunshot wounds appear to be on body of shooter, official determination upon coroners autopsy

next of kin being notified on victims...

motive determines if it was act of terrorism...

timeline still being worked...

El Al security involved... unsure of what happened...

Additional info provided, update in 90 mins...

[Clara Lou]

The FBI guy is just not going to give out information piecemeal. Understandable.

[ChicagoRepublican]

True. At least you can take comfort knowing Helen Thomas isn't anywhere near these press conferences.

[mewzilla]

Well, I think the perp just got darker. Garcia's stating that the dead guy could be of Hispanic descent (and we all know how much Hispanics loathe El Al) sounded like a non-denial denial to me...

[cake_crumb]

In this case, as in some others I can think of, "painful" is like the understatement of the century....I can add (from experience, because I'm doing it) wincing, and goosebumps...and there's sympathy for the handicapped in there too...we do not have words (that I know of) in the English language to describe what we really feel when watching these PUFFED UP, NEPOLEANIC SYNDROME SUFFERING, (I give up...unprintable epithets here) TOADS croaking their dogma at the camera....of there is one feeling which must be added, and I'm sure you'll agree...EMBARRASMENT. The QHOLE WORLD hears this CRAP....serious...deep...indes cribable embarrassment. AWFUL. It is absolutely AWFUL.

[Two-Bits]

You are so right on... Between the reporters, FBI, Mayor of La, Police, Governor Numb Nuts, etc, what idiots....It honestly hurts to listen to them. They know his age but do not know his name.....God Bless Israel Security. I hate to think how many would have died if it was our security. This PC, liberal scrap has got to stop or we are doomed.

[bobbyd]

"a white guy with a ponytail"

Thanks for leaving out the overweight part.

[cake_crumb]

"Trying to blame this on "too many guns" is ludicrous."

It's more than ludicrous...as a resident of an area where....as Hubby says:

"I don't fear my neighbor; I'm a better shot than he is"

The idea of these left wing appeasers who'll bend over in whatever direction the...err...wind might be blowing, parroting whatever their handlers tell them to say for the camera is frankly EMBARRASSING.

[brydic1]

If I had my wishes granted, I would turn all our airlines, airports, and security forces over to the Israelis. They at least have minimal intelligence, more than any US officials so fare being interviewed.

[monkeyshine]

I understand. I don't know if this was a personal grudge or not. But of course, the idea that this is categorically not terrorism is rediculous. Unless they know something they haven't told us (i.e. the shooter is the ex husband of one of the victims, etc) then I agree, Hahn and Davis should just shut the heck up.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

So far, everyone that I have publically seen connected with this investigation, appears to be clueless and a political hack-they inspire zero confidence.The Mayor's remarks were despicable and Gray Davis wasn't much better-they reinforce why, in the post 9/11 era, Democrats are incapable of handling a crisis, they only know how to try and score cheap political points. Their performance was so shallow ,compared to the President,Mayor Guiliani and Gov Pataki, post 9/11.

[Pharmboy]

I cannot understand why the Feds carry on like this ("It is not a terrorist incident, but an isolated..."). It ruins whatever credibility they still hold onto and likely makes people even more skeptical about their explanations for TWA 800...

[humblegunner]

Thanks for leaving out the overweight part.

Was that before or after your laptop got run over & you fell out of your chair?

[hunter112]

What an absolute waste of airtime that "press conference" was! Relying on "official" sources for news is just not going to get us anywhere, I'm sorry I spent the time waiting and watching it.

[Clara Lou]

You are absolutely correct. Democrats (such as Davis, Hahn, etc.) are so conscious of the soundbite. It's positively pathetic. Disgusting.

[GeneD]

I'm getting a little tired of contributing to this thread -- this is my fifth post -- but...

That white male biz may be related to this same reporter's copying of the long-discredited "Artie" story. I wrote to him to complain; he wrote back rather petulantly as follows:

That's why we attributed it to CNN, so people could judge it's credibility for themselves. As soon as we confirmed that it was incorrect, we put up a new version of the story without it. That's the difference between writing for the web and writing for the newspaper.

To which I replied:

Dear Mr. Lauter:

I'll keep this brief. First, the Times site ran an AP dispatch with the Artie story, then your story came along the wrong byline, then it had the Artie story, then based on the Artie story you decided the perpetrator was a white male. Someone without a cozy job in the news trade may therefore be slightly ticked. Further, nowhere in the line in question,

A second witness, identified as Josef Bootski, told CNN the gunman was shouting, "Artie took my job, Artie took my job" before he started shooting.

do you contradict or even challenge the story. To me this is stenography, not reporting. The fact that it ran on the Web is no excuse, either; had this story happened on a non-holiday at a different time of day it might have made the print edition.

I'm a little sad that you're so peremptorily dismissive of my complaint; while I do not envy reporters for having to file dispatches in short order with such a high risk of error, the Artie story shows that too often reporters can be the most credulous people on earth, and thanks to reporters' credulousness this story survived long enough that some people who only casually heard of the shooting may still believe it. You guys have fallen victim to Howard Stern and his apparatchiks too often for the average reader to be amused.

You need not respond to this, but I hope you will take heed.

Yours,

[GeneD]

I hope this is the LAST I hear of Artie, though we may learn more from Howie Kurtz, and he can make it irritating too.

[niki]

God Bless Israel Security

Based on the reporters attitude and questions, it seems they are going to do a hatchet job on the 'Israeli' security guy. Why did he have a gun, yada yada... If the reports are correct that the bad guy was shot after being subdued this could get real ugly. I hope they don't arrest the guy who took out the bad guy.

[PJeffQ]

If they knew it was just a disgruntled ex employee or relative they would have said so already....

[brydic1]

After watching the DC police giving countless interviews re: Sandra Levy case, the idiots from Salt Lake City and their countless clueless interviews, I've had it with PC interviews. I have a feeling we will find more facts about this case on BBC or Haaretz than from US official sources.

[monkeyshine]

I would think so. But who knows?

What I do know, is that I agree with VOA. I don't know what went on or who it is, but several things stand out: 1) absent of any evidence to the contrary, it's stupid and irresponsible to say this isn't terrorsm and 2) it's stupid and crazy for a terrorist to pull this stunt.

My hunch is leaning me towards thinking this is another Jew hating crazy, like that guy who shot up the day school.

If so, then I will start getting active about organizing some ads inside the Jewish newspapers about self-defense, and the importance of Jews to support the 2nd Amendment and the right to carry concealed weapons. I am amazed that so many Jews are anti self defense. If these kinds of things aren't enough to move them, I don't know what can.