Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Authorities Search for Motive in LAX Shooting

Aired July 05, 2002 - 14:10   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In a matter of minutes, Los Angeles authorities are expected to hold a news conference about the deadly Fourth of July shooting at the Los Angeles Airport. They know who is responsible, the why is still a mystery.

And CNN's Frank Buckley is tracking the investigation from LAX. Hi, there, Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. And LAX officials are now allowing us to give you the first live look here inside the Bradley International Terminal so that people can see for themselves exactly the scene where this happened to get a better sense of exactly what happened.

We are in the Bradley International Terminal. It is a very crowded space. You probably heard the reporting that there are many ticket counters in here. There are ticket counters on both sides of LAX here in the Bradley Terminal -- on that side.

And then right over there is the entrance. That's where people can come into LAX.

When you come into this airport -- this part of the terminal -- there is no security check at the curbside -- anybody can walk into this area.

When you come in -- the passengers all come into this area -- Lufthansa is there. And this is where El Al had its counter space yesterday. This is counter space that it shares with other airlines. They do not operate daily flights out of LAX.

They have actually taken down the signs. You can't see the signs right now but this morning those signs were up and the signs indicated exactly what had happened here -- some sense of exactly what had happened.

And those signs are down now but as we walk up here live to the counter there are other indications of exactly what happened here. You can see the broken glass. And beyond that behind the counter you can see some of the areas where the bullets hit back behind that counter area. Different parts of the counter were hit by bullets.

Now I've turned around and come behind Greg, the cameraman. And, Greg, if you can whip around the show them where I'm standing now. The FBI agents tell me that this is where -- about the location -- several feet away from the counter -- about 20 feet away from the counter is where the actual struggle took place. We have a photo of where the suspect fell -- was shot and killed by an El Al security agent. His name Hesham Mohamed Hadayet.

He died right where the struggle took place according to the FBI agents.

What we know is that according to the FBI this suspect was at this location and simply began firing in the direction of the El Al counter.

A young woman, a ticket agent, was killed -- Victoria Hen. She was behind the counter area. And then coming from behind the counter area was Haim Sapir, the head security agent for El Al.

At that point the suspect was already engaged in shooting according to the FBI and was right here at this location being subdued by a passenger and another El Al security agent.

According to the FBI the suspect was shooting, he had a knife with him. Haim Sapir came from behind the counter -- encountered him here -- was also shooting.

This is where the suspect fell dead around this location. That's when the incident ended.

You can imagine -- you can see right now that it's crowded here at LAX. This was about the level of crowdedness that was taking place.

I'm told by airport officials that dozens of suitcases were simply left on the ground -- that as people scattered to get out here they simply left their luggage and ran out the door.

Later they had to make announcements telling the folks that you can come back and retrieve your luggage because it was simply right there on the ground because people were scrambling to get out of here.

In all some 10,500 passengers were effected by what happened here yesterday -- 35 flights. All of them on their way to their final destinations now. The last plane pushing back at 2:08 a.m. Pacific Time -- that was the El Al flight -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right -- thank you very much. Frank Buckley from LAX where the ticket counter activity at El Al Airlines still is suspended.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com