THE LATEST
The Federal Aviation Administration has halted all flights going into Los Angeles Airport (LAX), according to Bloomberg TV. Bloomberg News lists the following airlines as being located in Terminal 3 and probably affected by the evacuation that’s going on at the airport right now due to a shooting incident which has injured at least two TSA or law enforcement officials.
Allegiant Air
Frontier
JetBlue
Spirit
Virgin America
Virgin Australia
PREVIOUSLY
Bloomberg News is reporting that the victims in a shooting at Los Angeles Airport were employees of the Transportation Security Administration and law enforcement officers. A witness told local media that TSA officials burst into Terminal 3 yelling that a man had a gun. He said people dropped to the gun and there was gunfire.
Live video from Bloomberg showed one person being loaded onto a stretcher. It appeared as if the person was wearing a TSA uniform, although it was difficult to see for sure. The Los Angeles Times reports that at least two law enforcement officers were being treated at the scene for injuries which did not appear to be life threatening. One was reportedly shot in the leg.
LAX could be affected by this incident for some time today
The shooting prompted the evacuation of Terminal 3 at the airport this morning. Later reports indicated that Terminal 2 was evacuated as well. Tweets from NYC Aviation indicated that passengers should consider LAX to be shut down for security reasons and expect all passengers to be rescreened as the investigation ensues.
FIRST REPORT
A shooting has prompted officials at Los Angeles Airport to evacuate Terminal 3. Initial reports from local media there is that there has been some kind of “incident.” CBS Los Angeles reported a short time later that airport police confirmed there had been a shooting there. The news station said law enforcement shot a gunman who was carrying a high-powered rifle.
Early details on the Los Angeles Airport evacuation
Los Angeles Airport officials confirm police incident began at 9:30 a.m. PT in Terminal 3 – @LAX_Official
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) November 1, 2013
Witnesses said via Twitter that the shooting occurred in the ticketing area. Twitter reports also suggest that two victims were down, although law enforcement has not confirmed that and it is unclear whether the report includes the gunman as one of the two people who were down. Video from news media helicopters showed passengers boarding buses to be evacuated from airplanes onto the runway. Video also showed at least one person being wheeled out of the airport on a wheelchair.
The evacuation of Terminal 3 began sometime after 9 a.m. Los Angeles time. Flights were said to be landing at Los Angeles Airport but not taking off.
