Crime & Safety

LAX Police Chief Says Airport Will Never Be 100% Safe

Chief Patrick Gannon says it's not clear if an armed police officer near where gunfire broke out Friday in terminal 3 would have made a difference.

The chief of the Los Angeles Airport Police Department said Monday that despite officers' best efforts, LAX could never be 100 percent safe, and it's unclear if the death of a federal security agent during a shooting in Terminal 3 could have been prevented by an armed police officer at the entrance.

"As much as we try, and as much as we work each and every day to make this airport and others safe, it's sad to say but nothing will ever be 100 percent," Chief Patrick Gannon said.

Answering criticism that airport police had been slow to respond when an armed suspect--believed to be Paul Anthony Ciancia--began shooting in Terminal 3 Friday morning, Gannon said his officers "did not hesitate. They did not shy away from their duties. They went after that individual immediately."

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The gunman shot and killed TSA officer Gerardo Hernandez, and wounded several other people in the terminal before being shot himself. Ciancia remains in critical condition at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Arif Alikhan, deputy executive director for Homeland Security for Los Angeles World Airports, said Hernandez was not working at the main third-level screening area in Terminal 3 but was on a lower level at the base of the escalators leading to the screening area.

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He said Hernandez was with another TSA agent, checking boarding passes and passengers who had enrolled in a pre-check process.

"They were not at the screening checkpoint," Alikhan said. "That's important. Because a lot of what's been said about the police officer not being at the podium (and) could have somehow prevented this horrific act from being committed, and in this particular case that is simply not the case. This officer was not at the screening checkpoint, he was below it. And unfortunately he was killed because of the heinous acts of this individual who is now in custody."

Gannon said the shots that rang out in the lower level of the terminal where Hernandez was killed acted as a warning to people in the upper-level screening area.

"That TSA employee that died in this particular incident--where he was and where he was attacked, in my professional opinion, saved lives," Gannon said.

"... TSA employees did not hesitate to begin to evacuate people away from where the shots were being fired," he said. "They moved quickly, efficiently. I didn't see a lot of panic, I just saw people moving.

"By the time that that gunman reached the top of the stairway, he did not have anybody to shoot at."

Gannon said he doubted an increased police presence at the terminal entrance would have made a difference in identifying Ciancia and his intentions.

"He came in that door as a normal traveler, with a bag like he was a normal traveler, dressed like he was a normal traveler," Gannon said. "Nothing descriptive about him that would ring a bell. He did not raise a suspicion of any of the people that are down in that area of the airport. Would he have raised the suspicion of a police officer there? Probably not."

But Gannon said he was committed to reviewing security measures and taking whatever steps were necessary to improve safety.

"Are we perfect? No. Will we review the circumstances of all that has occurred here? Absolutely. Will security look ... in a year from now the same way that it does now? Probably not.

"... I refuse to allow things to be predictable."

- City News Service


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