Authorities believe the suspect is the sole person responsible for the Los Angeles International Airport shooting. At least one TSA agent is dead and a motive for the shooting remains unclear.
By Pete Williams, Andrew Blankstein, Erin McClam and Tracy Connor, NBC News
Law enforcement officials were looking for clues Saturday to what motivated a man with an assault rifle to shoot his way through security at Los Angeles International Airport, killing a Transportation Security Administration worker.
NBC News
Paul Anthony Ciancia, in a photo from his California driver's license.
The suspected gunman, who was identified by authorities as 23-year-old Los Angeles resident Paul Anthony Ciancia, also wounded two others in the shooting Friday morning at one of the busiest airports in the U.S. Several other travelers were injured as they fled.
After walking through an "exit" lane reserved for passengers leaving the secure area of the airport, Ciancia pulled a .223-caliber semiautomatic assault-style rifle out of a bag and opened fire at the security checkpoint, authorities said.
Still firing, he continued walking through Terminal 3 of the airport, where police shot him several times in the chest. He was taken into custody in critical condition.
The TSA confirmed the identity of the slain officer as 39-year-old Gerardo I. Hernandez, according to an agency official. Hernandez is the first officer to have been killed in the line of duty in the agency's 12-year history.
Law enforcement officials say the crime scene is extensive and authorities are investigating the suspect's background.
Ciancia had sent a suicidal text message to his brother before the shooting and was carrying anti-government material critical of the federal government and the TSA, police said Friday. Sources told NBC News that the material included literature outlining an alleged conspiracy to create a single global government.
Federal officials told NBC News it was unclear whether the gunman was targeting the TSA workers or was trying to shoot his way farther into the airport. But a witness said the shooter, calmly walking through the terminal with his weapon, approached him with a one-word question.
Terminal 3 of the Los Angeles International Airport remained a crime scene Saturday as police and investigators attempted to get answers to why a 23-year-old suspect allegedly entered the airport Friday and opened fire. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
"All he said was, 'TSA?' Just like that," Leon Saryan told MSNBC.
The shooting started about 9:20 a.m. (12:20 p.m. ET) at Terminal 3, which serves Virgin America and other airlines.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a news conference Friday that the suspect had "more than 100 more rounds that could've literally killed everybody in that terminal today."
When the gunfire erupted, travelers who were waiting to snake through the security line abandoned suitcases and hit the ground.
"We were just standing there in line, and somebody started shooting," said Nick Pugh, a witness, who told NBC Los Angeles that he heard eight to 10 shots. "Everyone dropped to the floor and started crawling along the ground."
The airport said that seven people were injured in all but that the nature of all injuries wasn't clear.
The shooting brought one of the nation's busiest airports to a standstill.
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights at LAX, where 1,500 flights take off and land every day. Passengers heading there for departing flights were stuck in colossal traffic jams. Some abandoned their rides and rolled their suitcases the last distance to the airport.
According to the LAX official Twitter account, 724 scheduled arriving flights were affected, with an estimated 67,850 passengers impacted, while some 826 scheduled departure flights were affected, with an estimated 99,200 passengers impacted.
Three survivors of the shooting at Los Angeles International Airport told TODAY's Erica Hill of chaos in the moments after a man allegedly entered the airport and opened fire.
The rest of the flights were held on the ground in Los Angeles or at their originating airports, said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports. The ground stop applied to airports roughly west of and including Denver, officials said. It was imposed shortly after the shooting began and was lifted at 3 p.m. (6 p.m. ET).
"This has been a trying day for everyone, I know," Lindsey said.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the shooting, the White House said in a statement. Obama called TSA Administrator John Pistole to express his condolences to the family and friends of those injured, including the TSA employee who was killed in the line of duty, a White House official said.
In 2002, an Egyptian national opened fire at the El Al ticket counter at LAX, killing two Israelis before he was shot dead. Authorities ruled it a terrorist incident, even though the shooter was not tied to a known group.
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