LAX Shooter: Paul Anthony Ciancia Incident Not The First Violent Attack; A Rundown Of Shootings And Bombings At LAX

Today’s shooting at LAX by 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia that left several people injured and one dead is not the first violent incident to have occurred at the airport. As the New York Daily News points out, Los Angeles International Airport has been the site of a few bombings and shootings throughout the years. Below are a few of the more infamous:

July 4, 2002

On Thursday, July 4, 2002 at 11:30 a.m., an Egyptian man named Hesham Mohamed Hadayet approached the El Al Israel Airlines ticket counter at LAX, pulled out two handguns and opened fire on passengers standing in line. He managed to kill two people and injure four before he was gunned down by an El Al security guard.

Aug. 6, 1974

At 8:10 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1974, a Yugoslavian terrorist named Muharem Kurbegovic, also known as the Alphabet Bomber, placed an explosive device near the Pan Am ticket counter in Terminal 2. When the bomb exploded, three people were killed and 38 were injured. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Society, Kurbegovic was affiliated with a terrorist group called Aliens of America. He is currently serving time in prison for the LAX incident and other bombings.

Dec. 7, 1987

On Dec. 7, 1987, David Burke, a disgruntled former employee of USAir -- the parent company for Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) -- decided to get revenge on his former supervisor Raymond Thomson by buying a ticket for PSA Flight 1771, a flight on which Thomson was a passenger. Using his USAir employee credentials, which he hadn’t turned in, Burke bypassed security at LAX and boarded the flight armed with a loaded .44 magnum. While the flight was in mid-air, Burke shot and killed Thomson, along with a flight attendant, a pilot traveling as a passenger, and both pilots flying the plane. The plane crashed, killing all 43 people on board.

Oct. 13-14, 2013

Just a few weeks ago, police arrested LAX ground crew employees DiCarlo Bennett, 28, and Miguel Angel Iniguez, 41, in connection with two separate incidents of dry-ice bomb explosions at LAX over the course of two days. The first dry-ice bomb went off in an employee restroom in Terminal 2. The terminal was shut down as a result. The second dry-ice bomb exploded on the tarmac near Tom Bradley International Terminal. Nobody was injured in either incident. According to SFGate, the duo planted three devices, but only two went off.