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CNN Live At Daybreak

Egyptian National Opens Fire at LAX

Aired July 05, 2002 - 05:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Everyone was hoping for a peaceful Fourth of July, but something did happen. And this morning we have new information on the gunman at the Los Angeles International Airport. This is a picture of the man the FBI says shot and killed two people at LAX. His name is Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, a 41-year-old Egyptian national who entered the United States in 1992.

The FBI is now questioning the man's wife. They say it's too soon to call the shooting a terrorist act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT MCLAUGHLIN, FBI: I have never represented that there was not definitively a connection to terrorism. The caveat was is that we didn't have anything indicating definitively that there was. Absent that, we still couldn't discount the possibility that there might be some terrorism links. I'm not sure that this still confirms that this isn't a terrorist attack. In fact, I don't think that it does. There's a great deal more investigation that needs to be done before we'd ever make a statement like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And Mr. McLaughlin says the shooter was armed with a .45 semi-automatic pistol, another handgun and a hunting knife with a six inch blade.

Our Anne McDermott has more for you now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNE MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The gunman at LAX was dead, but so were two others, including this man's brother-in- law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We lost my brother-in-law. He is a very good person. He never hurt nobody.

MCDERMOTT: The shooting began about 11:30 in the morning at the El Al desk in the international terminal. This tourist was right there when the man pulled the gun.

HAKIM HAFIDH, BRITISH TOURIST: I didn't hear him say anything. I just saw him shooting. QUESTION: Did you see the expression on his face?

HAFIDH: Calm and collected. I think he knew what he was doing.

MCDERMOTT: What he was doing, said police, was killing two and wounding others before being shot to death, apparently by an El Al security agent. Kornelia Bergmann saw it all. She saw the gunman up close.

KORNELIA BERGMANN, GERMAN TOURIST: I think he looked Arabian. He was, he was very dark in his, about 30 years old and he was well dressed.

MCDERMOTT: U.S. officials believe this was an isolated incident not related to terrorism. But the Israelis disagreed, saying it had all the earmarks of a terrorist operation. In any event, it was all over in just a few minutes. The police, already on high alert, quickly swarmed the terminal and evacuated hundreds of travelers. And some of those travelers, like this Frenchman, were steaming.

HERVE FLEURIOT, FRENCH TOURIST: I'm very angry, angry about the American security.

MCDERMOTT: But many more had only good things to say, especially about the people at El Al.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They responded, you know, as fast as anyone could possibly respond with that kind of event.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They saved our lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More people could have died in that incident. I mean there were children around us. There were families. More of us could have died.

MCDERMOTT: Unfortunately, they couldn't save everyone.

Anne McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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