On July 4, 2002, a lone gunman opened fire at the ticket counter of
El Al
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (, he, אל על נתיבי אויר לישראל בע״מ), trading as El Al (Hebrew: , "Upwards", "To the Skies" or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ar, إل-عال), is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugura ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
's national airline, at
Los Angeles International Airport in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California, United States. In the terrorist attack, two people were killed, and four others were injured before an El Al security guard fatally shot the gunman.
Attack
On July 4, 2002, at around 11:30 a.m., a lone gunman approached the
El Al
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (, he, אל על נתיבי אויר לישראל בע״מ), trading as El Al (Hebrew: , "Upwards", "To the Skies" or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ar, إل-عال), is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugura ...
ticket counter inside the
Tom Bradley International Terminal
The Terminals of Los Angeles International Airport have a total of 146 gates in nine passenger terminals arranged in the shape of the letter U or a horseshoe. Passengers can move between terminals via various shuttle buses and inter-terminal pe ...
at the Los Angeles International Airport, pulled out two
Glock
Glock is a brand of polymer-Receiver (firearms), framed, Recoil operation#Short recoil operation, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H., Glock Ges.m.b.H. The ...
pistols and started shooting at the 90 passengers standing in the line. Initially, the assailant killed 25-year-old Customer Service Agent Victoria Hen, standing behind the counter, with a gunshot to the chest. Later, the assailant opened fire at the passengers as they huddled nearby and killed 46-year-old bystander Yaakov Aminov. In addition, he injured four other bystanders.
The terrorist used a .45-caliber handgun in the shooting. In addition, he had a 9 mm handgun, a 6-inch knife and extra magazines with ammunition for both guns.
After the gunman fired ten bullets at the crowd, one of El Al's security guards, who was unarmed, managed to knock him down. Meanwhile, El Al's security officer, Chaim Sapir, ran to the scene but was stabbed by the assailant with a knife. Despite this, Sapir managed to draw his pistol and shoot the gunman in the chest, killing him.
Perpetrator
Hesham Mohamed Hadayet (July 4, 1961 – July 4, 2002), a 41-year-old
Egyptian national, was identified as the assailant. He emigrated to the United States in 1992, arriving on a tourist visa but applied for political asylum. The
Immigration and Naturalization Service denied his asylum request in 1995, but the Post Office returned a letter notifying him as undeliverable. No further efforts appear to have been made to locate and deport him.
Shortly before his scheduled 1997 deportation, his wife won the
Diversity Immigrant Visa
The Diversity Immigrant Visa program, also known as the green card lottery, is a United States government lottery program for receiving a United States Permanent Resident Card. The Immigration Act of 1990 established the current and permanent D ...
lottery, enabling both to become legal residents.
In Egypt, he had been arrested for being a member of
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية, "the Islamic Group"; also transliterated El Gama'a El Islamiyya; also called "Islamic Groups" and transliterated Gamaat Islamiya, al Jamaat al Islamiya, is an Egyptian Sunni Islamist movement, and ...
, an
Islamist group. He denied the accusation to U.S. immigration authorities. He said he was a member of
Asad ibn al-Furat
Asad Ibn Al-Furat ( ar, أسد بن الفرات; c.759 – c.828) was a jurist and theologian in Ifriqiya, who played an important role in the Arab conquest of Sicily.
His family, originally from Harran in Mesopotamia, emigrated with him to ...
Mosque Association, a group that aimed to "understand truly and apply Islamic law in the 20th century under any circumstances."
Hadayet had a
green card
A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...
(through the Diversity Visa Lottery), which allowed him to work as a
limousine
A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment.
A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...
driver and to apply for United States citizenship after five years. He was married and had at least one child. At the time of the shooting, Hadayet was living in
Irvine, California
Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...
. He committed the shooting on his 41st birthday.
Aftermath
In September 2002, federal investigators concluded that Hadayet hoped to influence U.S. government policy in favor of the
Palestinians and that the incident was a terrorist act.
See also
*
1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks
The Rome and Vienna airport attacks were two major terrorist attacks carried out on 27 December 1985. Seven Arab terrorists attacked two airports in Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria with assault rifles and hand grenades. Nineteen civilians were ...
*
2013 Los Angeles International Airport shooting
On November 1, 2013, a terrorist attack occurred at around 9:20 a.m. PDT in Terminal 3 of the Los Angeles International Airport. Twenty-three-year old Paul Anthony Ciancia opened fire with a rifle, killing a Transportation Security Adminis ...
*
List of attacks on Jewish institutions in the United States
This is a list of violent attacks and failed attack plots targeting Jewish institutions in the United States.
* 1957 – November 11: A bomb at Temple Beth-El in Birmingham, Alabama was discovered before it exploded.Kellman, George. "ANTI-JEWISH ...
*
List of homicides in California
This is a list of notable homicides in California. This list includes notable homicides committed in the U.S. state of California that have a Wikipedia article on the killing, the killer, or the victim. It is divided into four subject areas as fo ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Los Angeles Airport shooting
Islamic terrorism in California
2002 murders in the United States
Terrorist attacks on airports
Terrorist incidents in the United States in 2002
2002 mass shootings in the United States
Mass shootings in the United States
Los Angeles International Airport
2002 in Los Angeles
Antisemitic attacks and incidents in the United States
Antisemitism in California
Murder in Los Angeles
Terrorist incidents in Los Angeles
July 2002 events in the United States
Attacks in the United States in 2002
Mass shootings in California
Attacks on buildings and structures in the United States