U.S. authorities identified the gunman who opened fire at Israeli airline El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles airport as an Egyptian native, CNN reported.
The man, identified as Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, was killed in the shooting. He was identified as a 41-year-old man who has lived in the United States since 1992, CNN reported, citing FBI sources.
FBI agents earlier swooped in on an apartment complex in the southern California city of Irvine, about 75 kilometers outside Los Angeles, after finding the suspect's car in a parking lot at the airport hours after the shooting.
Earlier, Israeli officials said that Thursday Los Angeles Airport shooting, in which two people were killed, was a terror attack, but the FBI maintained that there was no reason to believe the incident was an act of terrorism.
The two people killed at the attack at El Al's ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport were Israelis, residents of Los Angeles, Israel Radio reported Friday morning.
Contrary to statements by Israeli officials that the shooting was apparently a terrorist attack, a senior FBI official said Friday that the shooting was not an act of terror. "At this point we have no reason to believe this was an act of terrorism," said Ron Iden, assistant director of the Los Angeles FBI office said Friday.
Richard Garcia, the chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Los Angeles office, said that at this point law enforcement officials were "not aware of anything else that might be related to this," calling the shooting an "isolated incident."
The gunman walked into the terminal carrying a .45-caliber handgun, 9 mm handgun and a six-inch knife, but had no identification with him, Iden added.
An eye-witness told CNN on Thursday that the gunman shouted "He took my job" before the shooting.
Hours after the shooting, a bomb squad went to a parking garage at the international terminal to inspect a car believed to belong to the gunman, said Los Angeles police spokesman Jason Lee. The garage was evacuated, but the search was only precautionary, AP reported. (Albawaba.com)
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