LAX suspect charged with murder; FBI says he wanted to 'instill fear'

1/45

Los Angeles Airport Police Department Officer Fritz Corros stands in silence as an honor guard at the makeshift memorial to fallen TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

2/45

Transportation Security Administration employees observe a moment of silence on Friday at 9:20 a.m., the same time of last Friday’s shooting that left TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez dead. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

3/45

Los Angeles Airport police Officer Fritz Corros stands in silence as an honor guard at the makeshift memorial to fallen TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

4/45

TSA employees embrace after observing a moment of silence at LAX. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

5/45

Airport workers embrace in Terminal 3 after a memorial service for a slain TSA officer. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

6/45

A shoulder patch is among the items at the makeshift memorial for slain TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

7/45

LAX Airport Police officer Tom Dye passes the U.S. Honor Flag to TSA honor guard Brandy Richards as it arrives at LAX in memory of TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez on Wednesday. The Honor Flag will be used at Hernandez’s upcoming funeral services. (Brad Graverson / Getty Images)

8/45

Honor guards escort a U.S. National Honor Flag from an airline jet in a ceremony to memorialize TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez, who was fatally shot at LAX. (David McNew / Getty Images)

9/45

The U.S. Honor Flag is carried during a procession through Terminal 4 at LAX in memory of TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez. (Brad Graverson / Getty Images)

10/45

A motorcade, consisting of members of the L.A. Police Department, L.A. Fire Department, and honor guards with the Transportation Security Administration, carries a U.S. National Honor Flag in memory of TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

11/45

A TSA officer wipes her eyes as an honor guard escorts a U.S. National Honor Flag in a ceremony to memorialize TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez, who was fatally shot at LAX. (David McNew / Getty Images)

12/45

TSA agents Blandina Beltran,left, and Wessane Legesse, right, comfort each other at a candlelight vigil for their co-worker slain TSA agent Gerardo I. Hernandez at Dockweiler State Beach on November 4, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. Beltran and Legesse both work in Terminal 3 at LAX. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

13/45

TSA shooting victim Tony Grigsby is consoled by his mother, Faye Maye, during a news conference Monday n Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

14/45

TSA shooting victim Tony Grigsby, escorted by his mother, Faye Maye, left, and grandmother Juanita Davis, walks slowly away from the media after a press conference Monday in Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

15/45

Passengers continue through the screening area in LAX Terminal Three on Monday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

16/45

Transportation Security Administration agents help travelers with baggage to check for screening at LAX Terminal Two on Monday morning after a deadly shooting Friday at Terminal Three caused mass delays and cancellations. A Transportation Security Administration agent was killed and several other people were wounded when a gunman opened fire in the Los Angeles International Airport terminal Friday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

17/45

Transportation Security Administration agents embrace in front of Terminal 3 at LAX on Monday. Three days after a fellow agent was killed and several others wounded. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

18/45

Transportation Security Administration agents help travelers with their luggage. Suspect Paul Anthony Ciancia’s family family notified Los Angeles police Friday morning after receiving text messages from the 23-year-old that made them concerned about his well-being. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

19/45

Passengers and Transportation Security Administration walk past a memorial of flowers at LAX on Monday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

20/45

Flowers for slain TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez at LAX Terminal 3. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

21/45

Los Angeles Airport Police Officer Dan Keehne and his canine partner keep an eye on passengers in Terminal 3. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

22/45

TSA officers are in very somber mood at the Terminal 3 check-in area. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

23/45

Ana Hernandez, widow of slain TSA officer Gerardo I. Hernandez, makes a statement Saturday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

24/45

Airport police Officer Dan Keehne patrols Terminal 3 with his canine partner. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

25/45

Travelers wait to check in as construction workers take down tarp that prevented people from looking at the crime scene. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

26/45

Los Angeles airport staff members attend to a passenger who was trying get in through a closed entrance at Terminal 3. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

27/45

Los Angeles Airport police patrol with dogs in Terminal 3 a day after the shooting. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

28/45

TSA agents spend a quiet moment on a bridge that leads to Terminal 3. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

29/45

A TSA agent is absorbed in thought as he walks through Terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport. (Genaro Molina/ Los Angeles Times)

30/45

Law enforcement including the FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Fire Department and LAX Airport Police gather in Terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport. A Transportation Security Administration agent was killed and several other people were wounded when a gunman opened fire at the airport. The attack caused widespread chaos, delaying flights and stranding thousands of passengers. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

31/45

Liza Espiritu, right, rests on her luggage while joining hundreds of passengers who wait to get permission to try to make their flights. Espiritu and her husbvand, Eric, standing behind her, were traveling from Manila with a stop at LAX en route to Phoenix. (Genaro Molina/ Los Angeles Times)

32/45

After hours of waiting, passengers are allowed to enter LAX. They were held at the entrance to the arrival section of LAX. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

33/45

Travelers make their toward LAX on one of the main roads into the airport. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

34/45

Joseph Heyward, 87, right, and his wife get help with their luggage and a ride from Los Angeles firefighters. (Genaro Molina/ Los Angeles Times)

35/45

Passengers wait outside Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 1, 2013, after a Transportation Security Administration agent was shot and killed and three other people were wounded when a gunman opened fire in Terminal 3. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

36/45

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck talks with other responders at Los Angeles International Airport. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press)

37/45

The attack at LAX caused widespread chaos at the airport, with flights delayed and thousand of passengers left stranded on the streets in and around the airport. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

38/45

Security presence outside Terminal 2 at LAX after a Transportation Security Administration agent was shot and several other people were wounded when a gunman opened fire in Terminal 3 Friday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

39/45

Passengers wait outside Terminal 1 at LAX. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

40/45

Passengers and airline personnel exit LAX after a Transportation Security Administration agent was shot and killed. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

41/45

Passengers wait for Terminal 1 to reopen after a shooting at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)

42/45

A passenger trundles his bag behind him outside LAX, where thousands of people were evacuated after a gunman opened fire in Terminal 3. (Michael Nelson / EPA)

43/45

A police offer stretches crime scene tape across the road leading to Terminal 3 after Friday morning’s shooting. (Michael Nelson / EPA)

44/45

Police stand guard outside Terminal 2 at Los Angeles International Airport. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)

45/45

Passengers evacuated from LAX terminals walk with their luggage after a gunman opened fire inside Terminal 3. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

By Matt Stevens and Brian Bennett

Nov. 2, 2013 5:05 PM PT

Federal prosecutors on Saturday filed a murder charge against the suspect in the shooting rampage at Los Angeles International Airport in which a Transportation Security Administration screener was killed.

Other charges related to firing a weapon inside an international airport were also filed against 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia, who was identified by police as the man who opened fire inside Terminal 3 about 9:20 a.m. Friday. At an FBI news briefing Saturday, officials confirmed that Ciancia used an assault rifle in the attack.

If convicted, Ciancia faces life in prison without parole, or possibly the death penalty, authorities said Saturday.

At the briefing, FBI officials said Ciancia’s intent was made “very, very clear” in a note in which he “indicated his anger and malice toward TSA officers.”

David Bowdich, FBI special agent in charge, said that in Ciancia’s handwritten note, his goal was to “instill fear into their traitorous minds.”

Ciancia remained in critical condition Saturday morning after law enforcement sources said he was shot in the leg and head by LAX police. Because of his injuries, federal authorities had not been able to interview Ciancia, Bowdich said.

Authorities on Saturday were still trying to learn a motive. But a federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told The Times that the note found with Ciancia contained a rant against the government and the words “kill TSA.”

TSA Administrator John S. Pistole traveled to Los Angeles on Saturday to meet with the family of Gerardo I. Hernandez, 39, the screener who was shot and killed on Friday. Pistole, who was the No. 2-ranking official at the FBI from 2004 to 2010 before joining the TSA, also met the two TSA officers who are recovering from gunshot wounds, officials said.

Hernandez is the first TSA officer killed in the line of duty since the agency was created 69 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

“No words can explain the horror that we experienced today when a shooter took the life of a member of our family and injured two TSA officers at Los Angeles International Airport,” Pistole said in a letter to TSA employees sent on Friday.

Authorities said that during the rampage, Ciancia approached several people cowering in the terminal, pointed the gun at them and asked if they “were TSA.” If the answer was no, he moved on without pulling the trigger. A witness told The Times that the gunman cursed the TSA repeatedly as he moved through the terminal.

The incident was over in less than 10 minutes but caused chaos at the world’s sixth-busiest airport and disrupted thousands of flights across the nation.

As gunfire rang out through the terminal, travelers and employees crawled on the floor and ducked behind planters and advertising kiosks. Passengers tripped over one another and abandoned baggage as they barreled backward through the security checkpoint.

Earlier on Saturday, Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, announced that Terminal 3 had fully reopened shortly after 1 p.m. But she warned that even as LAX was “returning to normal,” operations were “very, very busy.”

ALSO:

LAX shooting: Wife of slain TSA employee ‘truly devastated’

LAX shooter was ‘calm, pacing, scanning the crowd’ during rampage

After LAX shooting, a ‘logistical nightmare’ as passengers return, wait