Jersey Man Charged With LAX Murder
The New Jersey man who shot and killed a TSA worker Friday at LAX will be charged with murder and committing violence at an international airport. Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, was shot in the face during the incident, but survived.
In a news conference on Saturday night, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. spelled out Friday’s chilling chain of events that began when Ciancia, dressed in fatigues and carrying at least 100 rounds of ammunition, strode into Terminal 3, pulled a Smith & Wesson .223-caliber assault rifle from his duffel bag and fired repeatedly at point-blank range at a TSA officer. The officer was checking IDs and boarding passes at the base of an escalator leading to the main screening area.
After killing that officer, Ciancia fired on at least two other uniformed TSA employees and a civilian airline passenger, who were all wounded. Airport police eventually shot him as panicked passengers cowered in stores and restaurants. He remains in critical condition, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A signed, handwritten letter found in Ciancia’s duffel bag stated that he had “made the conscious decision to try to kill” multiple TSA employees and that he wanted to stir fear in them, FBI agent in charge David L. Bowdich said on Saturday. The note also mentioned “NWO,” a possible reference to a conspiracy theory known as New World Order that advocates a one-world totalitarian government. The source also said that the note referenced Ciancia’s constitutional rights being violated.
You can only be horrified.
