Terminal 3 is home to Virgin America, AirTran, Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air, JetBlue, Virgin Australia and other airlines. It remained closed Friday evening.
The Federal Aviation Administration for hours grounded flights that had not yet departed for LAX. Airport officials said 746 flights nationwide were affected by the incident.
Ben Rosen said he heard gunfire erupt and saw people start running in all directions and others crouching. He lay on the ground. Police, with their guns drawn, shouted, “This is not a drill, hands up.”
“It was scary I've never experienced anything like this before,” Rosen said.
It was not the first shooting at LAX. On July 4, 2002, a limousine driver opened fire at the airport's El Al ticket counter, killing an airline employee and a person who was dropping off a friend at the terminal. Police killed the man.
Associated Press writers Joan Lowy and Alicia Caldwell in Washington; Greg Risling, Christopher Weber, Alicia Chang, Alicia Rancilio, Gillian Flaccus and Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles; Josh Hoffner in Phoenix; and Michael Rubinkam in Pennsylvania contributed to this report.
