FBI identifies airport gunman

American officials have identified a man who opened fire at Los Angeles airport on Thursday as a 41-year-old Egyptian who had been living in the US for about 10 years.
There was no evidence of terrorism, but it could not be ruled out, an FBI official told the BBC.

Three people, including the gunman, were killed in the incident at Los Angeles International airport.

The attacker was named as Hesham Mohammed Ali Hadayet – a limousine driver living in Irvine, California.

He opened fire at Israel’s El Al airlines ticket counter killing two people believed to be Israelis before he was shot dead by an airline security guard, authorities said.

Hadayet was an Egyptian citizen, but was in the US legally – known as a “resident alien”.

The day of the attack was his 41st birthday.

Three people were also wounded in the shooting, which came as US cities were on high alert for possible attacks during Independence Day celebrations.

The authorities are still trying to determine a motive.

There has been a generally cautious reaction to the shooting, with both the US Government and many Americans seeing it as a relatively minor incident not necessarily related to the 11 September attacks.

‘Isolated incident’

The Israeli Government was swift to call the shooting a terrorist incident.

But the FBI said there was no indication the shootings were connected to terrorism and that the gunman had acted alone.

It appears this was an isolated incident,” Mayor James Hahn said.

The gunman, who was later found to be carrying two handguns and a six-inch knife, had approached another person at the ticket counter and opened fire shortly before 1200 (1900 GMT), said Alex Baez, a police spokesman.

Passengers and workers hid behind counters and in airport offices as the bullets flew until an El Al security guard fatally shot the gunman, police said.

“The first couple of shots, everybody just stood there, frozen like I was,” said Hakin Hasidh, who was standing in the line next to the El Al counter.

Victims

After hearing two shots, Mr Hasidh said he turned and saw the gunman fire at passengers in line.

One of the victims has been named as Yakov Aminov, aged 46. He had been dropping friends off at the airport, hospital officials said.

A woman in her 20s was also killed. The airline said she was an employee of a company that provides ground services to El Al the airport.

The BBC’s David Willis who was at the airport when the attack occurred said many people there were in tears after the shooting.

The airport was very busy as people prepared to travel across the US on Independence Day, he said.

Thousands were evacuated from the international terminal, although the Federal Aviation Administration said all domestic flights continued to operate normally.

Twenty outbound flights were delayed, but five hours after the shooting, most of the international terminal had reopened.

Relief

California Governor Gray Davis praised the swift action from El Al’s security agents saying they had prevented a greater loss of life.

That it happened on the day on which we honour what America stands for – liberty, security and diversity – makes this particularly more tragic,” he said in a statement.

The BBC’s Washington correspondent, Justin Webb, says that despite the loss of life most Americans are relieved that the shooting was the only serious violence reported on the Fourth of July.

They had feared much worse.

Undaunted by the attack, Americans flocked in large numbers to the National Mall in the centre of Washington and other spots around the nation for the traditional Independence Day firework shows.