Tony Grigsby, a 36-year-old Transportation Security Administration official, who was wounded in gunman's Paul Ciancia's deadly attack at Los Angeles International Airport last Friday, has spoken out for the first time, The Associated Press reported. Grigsby was walking with a cane before he read a statement outside his South Los Angeles home to reporters on Monday.
Grisby said that Ciancia shot hm while trying to get an elderly man to safety, he said. Grigsby also said he was a friend of Gerardo Hernandez, the TSA officer who had been killed in the attack. The 39-year-old Hernandez was shot at point-blank range. When Ciancia noticed that Hernandez was still squirming after the initial gun shots, he went back and killed him.
Authorities filed a murder charge against the 23-year-old Ciancia, and offered details that the rampage explicitly targeted TSA officials. Ciancia reportedly was carrying a signed handwritten note in his duffel bag saying he wanted to "instill fear into their traitorous minds," said David Bowdich, special agent in charge of the Counter-terrorism Division at the FBI's Los Angeles office, as reported by The Los Angeles Times.
"His intent was very clear in his note. In that note he indicated his anger and his malice toward the TSA officers," Bowdich told reporters last Saturday.
Ciancia's note also mentioned "NWO," a reference to the conspiracy theory, which states that forces are tying to create a totalitarian one-world government. NWO stands for New World Order.
After shooting Hernandez, Ciancia 'calmly' fired his way through the screening area, while cursing TSA officials. The gunman then injured two more TSA officials and injured at least one bystander, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Airport police, who were "60 seconds behind the suspect," according to airport Police Chief Patrick Gannon, shot the gunman in the leg and head near a food court, news reports said.
