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American Morning

LAPD Asst. Chief Discusses LAX Shooting

Aired July 05, 2002 - 09:08   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let’s get the latest now of where this investigation stands today.

We are joined by Dan Gascon. He is assistant chief of the Los Angles Police Department.

We thank you very much for your time this morning, sir.

DAVID GASCON, ASSISTANT CHIEF, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: Good morning. It’s David, by the way.

HARRIS: David? Here we go – let’s get it straight – David Gascon. Thank you very much, sir. We appreciate that. And sorry about that. We apologize.

What can you tell us about what you’ve learned so far about this particular man? The question that we’ve been asking everyone this morning that we’ve been talking to is whether or not there’s any evidence that he may have been linked to any other terror network or any other organization that could be responsible for this. Have you found anything to that effect at all?

GASCON: Well, at this point, obviously, we’re playing it pretty close to the vest, but we don’t have any evidence that would indicate anything larger than what occurred.

As has been reported, we recovered his vehicle at the airport. We were very careful and methodical how we evaluated the vehicle and its contents.

We also have followed up to his residence in Irvine. FBI agents spent significant time there, and they have gathered some material that is being evaluated.

But the investigation at this point is moving consistently forward and quite methodically.

HARRIS: Can you tell us what you’ve found so far? Can you tell us what was inside his car?

GASCON: No. At this point, we don’t want to be premature in releasing that information, but it suffices to say it’s information that’s related to him personally, and that’s, in fact, what we need to pursue, anyway, those bits of information that will tell us about the individual’s character, those people that he may associate with, family, friends.

So it will be from the standpoint of all the investigators telling to find out who he is and what made him tick.

HARRIS: Does it trouble you at all to consider that this man was able to walk right into an airport with a number of weapons on him, and weapons that were unleashed, and, unfortunately, he was not stopped before he was actually able to use them?

GASCON: Well, first, it would bother any of us that anyone would take a weapon into any public place and end up with the catastrophe that we ended up with. Most of our public buildings in this country and most places that people frequent in large crowds, we all have access to those areas. Certainly, someone who had a weapon on them would have that kind of access.

Because it’s an airport, because we have ramped up after 9/11, all of those things are under review.

HARRIS: Are you doing some more wrapping up in the wake of this? Have you learned a lesson from this and you’re actually putting into effect some new measures now, or what?

GASCON: Well, I’m not going to say at this point that there are new measures. You’ve reported already that we’ve increased the number of personnel at the airport. It’s going to be quite apparent to the public that there is an increase in Los Angeles Police Department personnel in addition to the Department of Airport Police.

So you’ll see uniformed presence all over the place, and there perhaps are other things that you won’t see, won’t be that obvious, but there will be a sizable contingent of personnel working.

HARRIS: Let me ask you one more question about this suspect – the person who was shot dead, Hadayet. This may be, for the benefit for those who actually may live around him or where he did live, and I understand he left behind a wife and child -- if any of his neighbors had been observing, is there anything they should have been looking out for in this particular case? Is there anything you can tell us about who he may have been associated with, and if you believe that he did get some support?

We talked with someone today, and as a matter of fact, the former head of El-Al security, who says that there’s no way he could have carried this out if he did not have some sort of support.

GASCON: Well, we don’t find any indication of that at this point. Obviously, the actions that have been reported indicate that what occurred inside the terminal -- he was probably alone. But we don’t want to speculate, and we don’t want to be premature in closing that off.

However, we have to carefully evaluate what his motive may have been. We will be talking to everyone that we can that knows him and will slowly, over a period of time, develop a real good background on him and his activities. But we have to be cautious that we don’t sound that alarming note that there’s more to it than has occurred.

HARRIS: Yes – and we all understand that. However, we also understand the times – the nature of the times -- that we happen to be in. And with that being around a holiday, too, that really has people’s sensitivities heightened.

Assistant Chief David Gascon, thank you very much for your time, sir. We really do appreciate it. We will be watching to see how this all turns out. Good luck.

GASCON: Thank you.

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