Deadly shots were fired Nov. 1 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), as 23-year-old Paul Cianca, an unemployed motorcycle mechanic, reportedly killed 39-year-old Transportation Security Agent, Gerard I. Hernandez, and wounded three others including two other TSA officers.
The deadly rampage left investigators to piece together what motivated Ciancia’s hatred toward the agency. TSA was formed to make air travel safer after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The attack could ultimately lead to changes in the way airports are patrolled.
Students said they were worried about traveling after hearing about the shooting. “It makes me a little nervous to travel at Christmas time because I fly through LAX,” said Sarah Stoltz, a senior studying graphic design from Oregon. Stoltz said she is angry with the shooter because first of all he killed a TSA agent and second he is making traveling worse than it already is.
Aubrey Rasmussen, a senior studying graphic design from Texas, agreed with Stoltz and said, “The one place you don’t want to have a shooting is at the airport.” According to authorities, Cianca accomplished two of his goals: killing a TSA officer and showing how easy it is to get a gun into an airport.
The FBI is still looking into Ciancia’s past, but investigators said they had not found evidence of previous crimes or any run-ins with the TSA. They said he had never applied for a job with the agency.
Brian Ludmer, a teacher wounded in the deadly shooting rampage at Los Angeles International Airport, said he crawled for his life and used a sweatshirt as a makeshift tourniquet, a constricting device to stop blood circulation, in the moments after the attack began. A bullet hit his calf and shattered a bone.
Ludmer said on Nov. 5 from a hospital bed, “My leg collapsed. It just instantly wouldn’t support me,” he said. “Below the bullet wound, my leg was just hanging.” Doctors say he’ll recover.
Ciancia, who was shot four times by airport police, remains in critical condition in the hospital and won’t face charges in court until doctors say he can.