Machete-Wielding Attacker Shot At New Orleans Airport

[Webster]

ABC News: Machete-Wielding Man Shot at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

A man wielding a machete and a can of wasp spray entered Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport today and was shot by an officer as he threatened agents near a checkpoint, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said.

The FBI responded to the scene along with local law enforcement, an FBI spokesman said. The man with the machete was identified as Richard White, a taxi driver, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said in a press conference tonight.

The TSA agent fired three shots, one of which grazed a bystander. Two other people received minor injuries fleeing the scene. The suspect had wounds to his chest, face and thigh, officials said. A TSA officer was sprayed in the face with the wasp repellent.

“At approximately 8:00 p.m. CDT, a female Supervisory Transportation Security Officer (STSO) at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport was assaulted in the public area outside of Checkpoint B. The officer was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.

Police said they know of no connection between the suspect and anyone else at the airport and did not believe he was a traveller.

Flights from the affected concourse were redirected to other terminals and operations continued except at Concourse B, which was closed for the investigation.

An officer said the suspect has been taken away from the scene, and would not comment on that person's condition.

 

[Jazzy]

The TSA agent fired three shots, one of which grazed a bystander. Two other people received minor injuries fleeing the scene.

TSA employees do not carry weapons. Must have been the sheriff who shot the guy.

 

[Webster]

The TSA agent fired three shots, one of which grazed a bystander. Two other people received minor injuries fleeing the scene.

TSA employees do not carry weapons. Must have been the sheriff who shot the guy.

Odds are, Jazzy, it was a Federal Air Marshal who fired those shots; FAMs' are also part of the TSA.
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...more bad news: it appears the machete-wielding suspect was carrying a few other weapons as well:

(Fox News) The machete-wielding man who attacked two Transportation Security Agency workers at a New Orleans airport was carrying a bag holding six Molotov cocktails. Officials said they don’t know what suspect Richard White intended to do with the homemade bombs or what triggered the incident. “As you know this was unexpected incident involving a clearly troubled and disturbed individual,” said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu at a Saturday afternoon press conference.

White, 62, chased the two Transportation Security Agency workers at New Orleans International Airport with a machete and wasp spray late Friday. He was shot multiple times by an officer, police said. Officials said they noticed White had been carrying a bag when they checked surveillance video after the incident. In the bag they found six half-pint mason jars with cloth wicks. The jars were filled with gasoline. The bag also held a barbecue lighter, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said.

Normand said as the bag was being checked other investigators from the Bomb Squad were combing through White’s car parked on the airport ramp. They found in the trunk an acetylene tank, a freon tank and an oxygen tank. Normand said investigators don't know what White was doing with the tanks. He said White was suffered from mental illness.

White approached the airport security checkpoint Friday evening, pulled out a can of the insecticide and began spraying both agents and several passengers standing in line before he then drew a large machete from the waistband of his pants, Normand said. The male officer grabbed some luggage to defend himself from the machete, and then was chased by White, Normand said.

White then ran through the detector chasing a female TSA agent when Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Lt. Heather Slyve drew her weapon. As she approached White, he continued to swing his machete. Slyve fired three rounds, striking White in the face, chest and leg. The gunfire struck a TSA agent in the arm, police said. Some bystanders suffered minor injuries as they scrambled to leave the area, police said. White was still alive and in surgery at a hospital, Normand said.

Bystanders described minutes of panic and chaos at the airport in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner. "Everyone was ducking for cover. It's New Orleans. I knew they (the gunshots) were coming from the security checkpoint area," said Garret Laborde, 31, a traveler trying to fly to Houston. "I immediately ducked down ... Then we waited." He called the scene "instant chaos" with "screaming, lots of females screaming for a short period of time." Some bystanders ran to get out of the way and received minor cuts and bruises, the sheriff said.

Brett Leonard, whose flight from San Francisco landed in New Orleans shortly before the attack, told the Associated Press that passengers had no idea what happened until they walked outside after getting their bags. Leonard said he was packed into a cab with several strangers as police evacuated the area.

Passenger Jeremy Didier told Fox8Live.com that he saw someone "jump past the security guards waving a machete and cutting people." Another traveler, Cameron Matthews, reported hearing several shots and seeing people running before she hid until the incident was over. Logan Tucker, 26, of Meridian, Mississippi, and Phillip Green, 33, of Houston, both deckhands on a tugboat headed to Houston for work, said they were about 25 yards from where the incident unfolded. "I heard the gunshots," Tucker said. "It was pandemonium after that," Green said. "I took cover. I didn't want to become part of the story." Green said they saw the machete and the suspect on the ground as they were leaving. The knife was about 14 inches long, he said.

The male officer was taken to a local hospital, where he was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, the TSA said. The entire airport was closed for about 20 minutes. White is a taxi driver who recently received his chauffeur's license, authorities said. He has "little to no criminal history" aside from a few disturbing the peace and traffic charges, Normand added.

Normand said authorities do not believe White posed a national security threat, and were investigating whether he had any connections to the airport or anyone who was there Friday night. FBI agents were at the airport and were assisting with the investigation, a bureau spokesman said.

 

[Sinon]

So the agent fired three shots, one of which 'grazed a bystander'. But the guy he was shooting at had injuries in three different places on his body?

Huh.

 

[mrldii]

Well, Richard White is dead now.

Thank God he wasn't carrying an assault rifle/semi-automatic/gun of any type.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

BAN MACHETES!!!!!

 

[Webster]

BAN MACHETES!!!!!

Don't tempt the TSA; they might do that....