The man believed to have carried out a gun attack at Los Angeles International Airport could be facing the death penalty if convicted of the charges against him.
Paul Ciancia, 23, has been charged with murder of a federal agent, violence at an international airport and multiple other charges. He remains hospitalized after being shot in the mouth and legs by police.
LAX has reopened fully after the investigation on-site was completed.
Police reported that the gunman did not initially kill 39-year-old TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez, the first TSA agent killed in the line of duty. Ciancia had wounded Hernandez before shooting at other agents then returned to kill the fallen agent.
The FBI says Ciancia carried a handwritten note stating he made the conscious decision to kill TSA employees to “instill fear into their traitorous minds.”
He pushed through screening gates and was 100 yards into the secure area before law enforcement reached him and he opened fire near a food court.
A gunman with an assault rifle opened fire in a crowded terminal at Los Angeles International Airport Friday, killing a TSA employee and injuring at least six before being wounded and taken into custody.
Late Friday, the shooting suspect was identified by Associated Press, citing law enforcement officials, as Paul Ciancia, 23.
The shooting incident, which sent passengers in the airport scrambling for cover, disrupted flights nationwide as planes headed for Los Angeles were temporarily grounded.
“The situation at LAX is very fluid,” the FAA said in a statement. “There is currently a ground stop for flights that are scheduled to depart for LAX. This means those flights are temporarily being held at their departure airports. Arrivals and departures are still occurring, and some flights may be diverted. The FAA is closely monitoring the situation and making adjustments to arrival and departure flows as needed. Passengers should contact their airline to determine the status of their flight.”
Source: FOX News – TSA employee dead, at least 6 injured in LAX shooting; gunman wounded and in custody, officials say
Authorities investigating the Monday shooting at a Nevada middle school say they have not ruled out the possibility of filing charges against the parents of the shooter. Police say that the boy was likely to have obtained the handgun used in the assault from his home.
Officials in Sparks, Nevada have refused to name the boy who shot and killed a teacher and wounded two classmates before taking his own life.
A classmate told CNN that she believes the gunman was responding to repeated bullying.
Amaya Newton said that the shooter was a “nice kid” who liked to help cheer up people having a bad day but was repeatedly bullied. She said that she believes he brought the gun as a way to protect himself from the bullying happening on the playground and in school.
Police praised slain teacher Michael Landsberry on Tuesday saying that his actions likely saved the lives of many students. The Marine veteran, who served two tours in Afghanistan with the Nevada Air National Guard, approached the gunman with hands up in an attempt to get him to lay down the weapon. He was backing away from the student as ordered when the gunman shot Landsberry in the chest.
Landsberry leaves behind a wife and two daughters.
The 12-year-old student who shot and killed a teacher and wounded two other students killed himself before he could be captured by authorities according to police reports.
Witnesses reported that the gunman was yelling at other kids who were taunting him.
“He kept saying ‘why you people making fun of me, why you laughing at me,” student Michelle Hernandez told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
The teacher who was killed was, 45-year-old Michael Landsberry, a Marine veteran who served multiple tours in Afghanistan. Witnesses say that he tried to stop the student from shooting others or injuring himself but the gunman told him to back off. As the teacher moved back, the gunman shot him.
Despite the witness reports that say the gunman was screaming about being taunted, police say they have no speculation on the motive behind the shooting. Classes at the school have been canceled for the rest of the week and counselors are being provided for students and staff.
A student opened fire at a middle school in Nevada killing a teacher and wounding two other students.
The student shooter also died.
“As you can imagine, the best description is chaos,” Tom Robinson, deputy chief of the Reno Police Department, told CNN. “It’s too early to say whether he was targeting specific people or just going on an indiscriminate shooting spree.”
A 13-year-old student told the Reno Gazette-Journal that the shooter pointed a gun at a teacher who told him to drop the weapon. The student then shot the teacher causing students to panic.
Law enforcement says they cannot tell if the shooter killed himself or if he was killed by officers.
A Kenyan intelligence official says al-Shabab ran a store for almost a year in the upscale mall where they launched a terrorist assault last week.
The revelation could explain how the terrorists were able to get so many weapons into the mall. Continue reading →
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta says the four day siege by Islamist terrorists at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi is over.
In a televised statement to the nation, Kenyatta said that 5 terrorists had been shot and killed during the battle with police and 11 other terrorists have been taken into custody. Continue reading →
Four men have been charged with various crimes related to a shooting spree in a Chicago park that wounded 13 people including a child.
Tabari Young, 22, Byron Champ, 21, Brad Jett, 22 and Kewane Gatewood, 20, were all connected to a shooting near a basketball court where two of the men used a military grade weapon to shoot into a crowd. Continue reading →
Kenyan security forces launched an all out assault Monday against a group of terrorists that had seized a shopping mall in the capital city of Nairobi.
The official death toll has stayed at 62 while at least 170 have now been reported wounded by government officials. The interior ministry has taken to the social network Twitter to tell people to stay away from the mall complex. Continue reading →
The grisly massacre at an upscale Kenyan shopping mall by al-Shabab militants is a “great shot in the arm” to the Al Qaeda-linked group’s efforts to recruit fighters from the West, including the U.S., terror experts tell FoxNews.com. Continue reading →
