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Two people wait in front of an El Al Airlines check-in counter inside the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport Thursday. (AP)
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| By Ellis Shuman July 5, 2002 |
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Two Israelis were killed and seven people were injured when an Egyptian national armed with guns and a knife opened fire Thursday at the El Al ticket counter in Los Angeles International Airport. An El Al security guard, stabbed by the attacker, shot and killed the gunman. Israeli officials claimed that the incident on America's Independence Day was a terror attack, but FBI officials said there was no terrorism connection.
The two people killed in the attack were identified as Yaakov Aminov, 46, and El Al ground stewardess Vicky Chen, 25, both of them residents of Los Angeles, Israel Radio reported. Aminov, a jewelry shop owner, had accompanied a friend to the airport, his brother-in-law said. Chen was the daughter of Israelis living in Los Angeles for many years.
Authorities identified the gunman as Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, 41, who came to the United States from Egypt in 1992 and had been living in Irvine, California. Hadayet was not an American citizen, but had obtained a "green card" allowing him to work in the U.S.
Hadayet "was armed with a .45-caliber handgun which he used in the shooting, as well as a 9 mm handgun which he had on his possession," FBI spokesman Ron Iden said. "He also had in his possession what's described as a 6-inch knife."
According to one eyewitness report, Hadayet said, "They stole my job," when he opened fire at the airport shortly before noon. But FBI officials said that Hadayet did not utter any words during the attack, Ha'aretz reported.
"The first couple of shots, everybody just stood there, frozen like I was," a witness, Hakin Hasidh from Germany, told the Associated Press. "It's really hard to tell whether he was aiming at the counter, at people behind the counter or at people in line."
"Two El Al security guards confronted the subject along with a private citizen who was in the area and began to subdue him," Iden said. "The subject was shot and died at the scene during that interaction."
Haim Safir, head of El Al security in Los Angeles, opened fire at the gunman with his pistol, after Hadayet stabbed him.
Security was tight at the airport due to general warnings of possible terrorist attacks on July 4, but the attack occurred near the ticket counters, before the areas where metal detectors are located. El Al had one flight scheduled out of Los Angeles on Thursday, Flight 106 to Toronto and Tel Aviv, said David Douek, a spokesman for the Israeli consulate. El Al officials in Israel said about 10 passengers were checking in for the flight when the attack began and about 80 others already had passed through the area.
Israeli officials: terror attack
"The way [the attack] was conducted is very much similar to previous attacks throughout the years at El Al counters," said Yuval Rotem, the Israeli consul general in Los Angeles. "Therefore, unfortunately, given this history, we presume that it may and would appear to be a terrorist attack."
Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh said it was a "logical assumption" that the shooting was a terrorist attack. "Organizations, primarily Islamic extremist organizations, are planning to hit Israeli targets outside [Israel]. And an airport is a preferred target," he told Army Radio. "We believe we are talking about a terrorist attack."
Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres said the terrorist deliberately chose the American holiday for the attack. "The terrorists deliberately chose the Fourth of July to carry out their crime on the soil of the United States," said a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry.
But American security officials discounted the terrorism angle. "There is no indication of any terrorism connection in this matter right now, but again we also can't discount that until we know more," FBI spokesman Matt McLaughlin told reporters.
"It appears this was an isolated incident," Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn added.
In another incident yesterday, an El Al pilot flying over Russia reported seeing a missile exploding a few miles away from his plane, officials said Friday. Sneh said he talked to the pilot and concluded, "We can gather this wasn't a missile intentionally aimed at an El Al plane."
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