Gunshots, chaos at Los Angeles airport

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A suspected gunman was in custody following a shooting at Los Angeles airport that killed a TSA agent and wounded two other people. This is what AP reporters on the scene Friday are learning about the events unfolding:

___

DISBELIEF IN TERMINAL

Grant Imahara of the Discovery show "Mythbusters" was in an airport lounge area when he heard gunfire in the terminal and saw police and terrified passengers react. "It was fairly tense and particularly after we heard the shots ring out, like 'oh my God this is really happening,'" he said.

___

HEROICS

LAX Police Chief Patrick Gannon said actions of responding officers were heroic. "They did not hesitate, they went after this individual, they confronted this individual in our airport," Gannon says.

___

START OF SHOOTING

Gannon says the gunman entered the terminal, pulled an assault rifle from a bag and began shooting at a screening checkpoint before entering the terminal. Officers took him into custody after a shootout. "As you can imagine, a large amount of chaos took place in this entire incident," he said.

SEVEN PEOPLE TREATED

Interim Los Angeles Fire Chief Jim Featherstone says paramedics treated seven people at the scene, and six were taken to hospitals.

___

LONE GUNMAN

Gannon says there was a lone shooter who approached a TSA agent who was checking passenger documents and opened fire.

___

TSA AGENT KILLED

Tim Kauffman, a spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees in Washington, confirmed that a TSA officer was killed in the incident at Los Angeles International Airport. He said the union's information comes from their local officials in Los Angeles.

___

AVOID AIRPORT

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says urges public to stay away from the airport for the time being.

___

WAYLAID PASSENGERS

Evacuated passengers were loaded onto buses by the dozens, while others decided to walk off the airport grounds.

People trailing rolling suitcases were seen on the normally quiet streets and sidewalks outside LAX.

Brian Livesay, 44, said when he arrived on a business trip from Atlanta the airport seemed unusually quiet. The film and TV production designer didn't realize there was a problem until he saw heavily armed police on the airport beltway. He decided to walk the 3-or-so miles to the rental car facilities.

"If there was anything moving on four wheels besides a police car, I would be in a cab," he said. "I have a room full of CBS executives waiting for me."

___

HOLDING PATTERN

Flights heading for Los Angeles, which had not yet taken off, were held at their gates by the Federal Aviation Administration. Others in the air — including three JetBlue flights from the East Coast — diverted to other airports.

Flight tracking site FlightAware.com said that as of 11 a.m. Pacific there were 12 flight cancelations and 132 flight delays in Los Angeles.

Travelers hoping to fly out are unable to reach Los Angeles airport because of road closures.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-11-01-US-LAX-Shooting-The-Latest/id-2213f4e5683d4964b553aef206b497f9
Similar Articles: Toy Story of Terror   chicago marathon   Lleyton Hewitt   Antoinette Tuff   Erbie Bowser