AFP
Los Angeles
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US authorities yesterday sought a motive after a gunman armed with an assault rifle and a stock of ammunition opened fire at the Los Angeles International Airport, killing a federal official.
The attack on Friday, which injured seven other people, caused chaos in the busy US transport hub as panicked travellers bolted after Paul Anthony Ciancia blasted through a security checkpoint.
The 23-year-old then walked calmly through a packed terminal seeking further victims before being shot and wounded by police.
As investigators scoured the crime scene yesterday, airport officials tweeted that flights would depart from other terminals.
An estimated 1,550 scheduled flights with some 167,000 passengers were impacted on Friday amid the resulting ground stop.
The slain official was identified as Gerardo Hernandez, 39, the first Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee killed in the line of duty since the group was set up following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Ciancia, who apparently had a grudge against the TSA, was still carrying plenty of ammunition when he was arrested, officials said.
Authorities said it was unclear what triggered Ciancia’s rampage at the country’s third-busiest airport.
“The true motive for this attack is still unknown other than an obvious disdain for the government and TSA,” a Federal Bureau of
Investigation spokesman told AFP.
Police found a note on the suspect voicing “disappointment in the government” but stating that he did not want to harm “innocent people”, a law enforcement official told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
During the shooting spree, which lasted less than 10 minutes, he approached a number of people cowering in the terminal and pointed his gun at them, asking if they “were TSA”.