Crime & Safety
LAX Gunfire Shatters Cake Bake Shop Owner's Wedding Plans
A Manhattan Beach resident recounts her experience yards away from where Friday's LAX shooter was taken down by police.
A quick trip to Cancun turned into a horrific event Friday when a lone gunman fired shots inside terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport.
Manhattan Beach resident Laura Mandracchia was sitting at the bar at Gladstone's sometime after 9 a.m., waiting for her flight to depart, when she heard a "pop, pop, pop" sound.
At first, she thought a bar fight had broken out but then people began running into the back of Gladstone's amid shouts of "Get down, get down, move back, move."
A Gladstone's employee "kept yelling for us to get down, stay away from the window--he pulled the door shut, then within seconds the gunfire started. It was loud and fast and two quick rounds, then quiet, then another round of gunfire," she told Manhattan Beach Patch.
The Cake Bake Shop owner, who was traveling alone to a friend's wedding, "huddled/crunched down under the corner end of the bar, closest to the main door.
"The gunman and gunfire was about 100 feet from where I was--right outside the door. The third round of (gun)fire sounded as though it was closer--I think it was the shoot out between the shooter and the police."
Said Mandracchia, "I've never been so scared in my life--we could have been shot."
As soon as she thought the shooting was over, she called her dad and a few other people, following the lead of others who were making calls on their cell phones.
At some point, police entered Gladstone's, guns drawn, "told us all to put our hands up, searched the room, then left," she said.
She began posting to her Facebook page while inside Gladstone's: "Never heard gunfire like that - this a.m. puts everything into perspective - if Lodo had not closed the door to Gladstones - I do not know what would have happened - we are being moved to a secure location."
Surrounded by FBI, Homeland Security and police, she and others were escorted to the Tom Bradley International Terminalnext door, where they were moved "gate to gate in pods." Authorities interviewed her.
When Mandracchia did finally exit the Bradley Terminal around 4:30 p.m. via the departures level, she had to figure out how to get wherever it was she wanted to go.
"It was very strange," she said, "to just all of a sudden be freed, so to speak. None of us really knew what to do. One of the women that I stayed with most of the day was kind enough to say that I could hop on the shuttle to the Crown Plaza on Century (Boulevard) where she had parked her car. My Dad picked me up from there.
"Thankfully there was a bar at the hotel and we both watched the news for the first time--it was all rather odd and surreal. Traffic to Hancock Park (where her parents live) was very heavy."
Once at her parents, a place where she could find solace, Mandracchia posted to her Facebook page.
"Finally safe and secure and home--the events of today were surreal --but real. Live every moment--life is precious and (can) be taken away as easily as it is given. Thank you for all the words of support and to the staff at LAX: Well done.
Under her original plans, she would have celebrated at her friend's wedding Saturday and remained in Cancun until Monday afternoon.
Instead, she's back at work, baking away after giving everyone the day off. "To be honest, I did not know what to do with myself and I did not want to be sitting home alone," she told Patch.
Mandracchia speaks highly of the Gladstone's employee who shut the door, police, Homeland Security, FBI, LAX staff and Virgin Airlines, who refunded her cancelled flight and hand-delivered her bag to her at Cake Bake Shop Sunday.
On the other end, she is not pleased with United Airlines, which she planned to fly home on from Cancun, and the Playacar Palace in Playa del Carmen, which is not issuing a refund for her unused accommodations, reportedly because she didn't call them Friday.
United "gave me a travel credit worth the full value of the ticket, however, when I want to use it, they will be charging me a $200 change fee," she said.
Wrote the travel agent the bride suggested she use, "Actually, even with Cancel for any reason travel insurance, had you purchased it, you still would have had to cancel UP to the day of arrival.. it stops working if someone 'no shows.' Of course this is a very unusual circumstance, and certainly out of your control, but the hotel may look at it in the same way they would any other occurrence that caused someone not to arrive.. whether weather problems, a non functioning flight, or other last minute delay."
At first, she thought a bar fight had broken out but then people began running into the back of Gladstone's amid shouts of "Get down, get down, move back, move."
A Gladstone's employee "kept yelling for us to get down, stay away from the window--he pulled the door shut, then within seconds the gunfire started. It was loud and fast and two quick rounds, then quiet, then another round of gunfire," she told Manhattan Beach Patch.
The Cake Bake Shop owner, who was traveling alone to a friend's wedding, "huddled/crunched down under the corner end of the bar, closest to the main door.
"The gunman and gunfire was about 100 feet from where I was--right outside the door. The third round of (gun)fire sounded as though it was closer--I think it was the shoot out between the shooter and the police."
Said Mandracchia, "I've never been so scared in my life--we could have been shot."
As soon as she thought the shooting was over, she called her dad and a few other people, following the lead of others who were making calls on their cell phones.
At some point, police entered Gladstone's, guns drawn, "told us all to put our hands up, searched the room, then left," she said.
She began posting to her Facebook page while inside Gladstone's: "Never heard gunfire like that - this a.m. puts everything into perspective - if Lodo had not closed the door to Gladstones - I do not know what would have happened - we are being moved to a secure location."
Surrounded by FBI, Homeland Security and police, she and others were escorted to the Tom Bradley International Terminalnext door, where they were moved "gate to gate in pods." Authorities interviewed her.
When Mandracchia did finally exit the Bradley Terminal around 4:30 p.m. via the departures level, she had to figure out how to get wherever it was she wanted to go.
"It was very strange," she said, "to just all of a sudden be freed, so to speak. None of us really knew what to do. One of the women that I stayed with most of the day was kind enough to say that I could hop on the shuttle to the Crown Plaza on Century (Boulevard) where she had parked her car. My Dad picked me up from there.
"Thankfully there was a bar at the hotel and we both watched the news for the first time--it was all rather odd and surreal. Traffic to Hancock Park (where her parents live) was very heavy."
Once at her parents, a place where she could find solace, Mandracchia posted to her Facebook page.
"Finally safe and secure and home--the events of today were surreal --but real. Live every moment--life is precious and (can) be taken away as easily as it is given. Thank you for all the words of support and to the staff at LAX: Well done.
Under her original plans, she would have celebrated at her friend's wedding Saturday and remained in Cancun until Monday afternoon.
Instead, she's back at work, baking away after giving everyone the day off. "To be honest, I did not know what to do with myself and I did not want to be sitting home alone," she told Patch.
Mandracchia speaks highly of the Gladstone's employee who shut the door, police, Homeland Security, FBI, LAX staff and Virgin Airlines, who refunded her cancelled flight and hand-delivered her bag to her at Cake Bake Shop Sunday.
On the other end, she is not pleased with United Airlines, which she planned to fly home on from Cancun, and the Playacar Palace in Playa del Carmen, which is not issuing a refund for her unused accommodations, reportedly because she didn't call them Friday.
United "gave me a travel credit worth the full value of the ticket, however, when I want to use it, they will be charging me a $200 change fee," she said.
Wrote the travel agent the bride suggested she use, "Actually, even with Cancel for any reason travel insurance, had you purchased it, you still would have had to cancel UP to the day of arrival.. it stops working if someone 'no shows.' Of course this is a very unusual circumstance, and certainly out of your control, but the hotel may look at it in the same way they would any other occurrence that caused someone not to arrive.. whether weather problems, a non functioning flight, or other last minute delay."
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