An unemployed motorcycle mechanic who gunned down airport screening officers at Los Angeles International Airport in a 2013 attack that sent passengers running for their lives pleaded guilty today to murder and 10 other charges.
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As part of the plea deal, U.S. District Court prosecutors had agreed not to pursue the death penalty, but insisted that the murder charge against the 26-year-old would stand. Instead, he is expected to be sentenced to a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Some travelers moved past a security area without being screened when officers asked them to move inside Terminal 3 as they pulled over a driver in a stolen vehicle outside the terminal, airport police Officer Rob Pedregon said.
September 04-Passengers were temporarily evacuated Sunday from a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport after an arrest inadvertently led to a security breach during the busy Labor Day weekend, authorities said. After shooting him, Paul got on an escalator to enter the terminal, but when he saw Hernandez writhing on the ground, he returned and shot the TSA officer repeatedly at point-blank range.
Speer hid behind a pillar as the gunman moved through the terminal, asking people if they were TSA agents and letting them go when they said no.
LOS ANGELES (AP) James Speer had just helped a shell-shocked passenger run away from a gunman at Los Angeles International Airport and thought they were in the clear. Hernandez was hit 12 times in all and died.
A total of 18 flights – nine inbound and nine outbound – were delayed, and passengers said they were being kept on arriving flights in holding areas.
“A split second before I could say, ‘Oh my God, ‘ I felt boom, boom in the back and upper left arm”.
“If you want to play that game where you pretend that every American is a terrorist, you’re going to learn what a self-fulfilling prophecy is”, his note said, according to court documents. I’m not a victim of the situation.
One security agent with the Transportation Security Administration, Gerardo Hernandez, was killed in the November 1, 2013, assault and three others were wounded. A duffel bag that belonged to him contained rounds of ammunition and a handwritten note where he said he wanted to kill at least one TSA agent, but hoped he could better the body count.
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“If you made the conscious decision to put on a TSA costume and violate peoples’ rights this morning, I made the conscious decision to try to kill you this morning”, the note stated.
