FBI: Gunman went to LAX to kill
( 2002-07-06 10:47 ) (7 )

The FBI said Friday that the heavily armed Egyptian immigrant who fatally shot two people at the ticket counter of Israel's national airline had gone to the Los Angeles airport to kill.

"Why he did that is what we are still trying to determine," FBI special agent Richard Garcia said.

Hesham Mohamed Hadayet was the fourth person in line at the El Al counter when he opened fire, authorities said. He fired 10 or 11 bullets before he was fatally shot himself by an airline security guard, as hundreds of people dove for cover.

Three other people were wounded, including a guard who was stabbed by Hadayet as he fought with the wounded gunman. A fourth bystander suffered heart trouble after the attack.

The shooting could have been a random act of violence or a hate crime, Garcia said. He said authorities also had not ruled out a number of potential motives, including terrorism, though Hadayet, 41, was not on any FBI or federal aviation "watch" lists.

Israeli officials said they would consider the attack an act of terror unless it was proven otherwise. A source close to Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Peres' granddaughter was in the terminal at the time of the attack.

Hadayet was armed with a .45-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol, a 9 mm handgun and a 6-inch knife, authorities said. The FBI said it wasn't clear whether he acted alone or why he had drivers' licenses with two last names - Hadayet and Ali.

The California licenses also had two birth dates - July 4, 1961 and April 7, 1961. Authorities believe the discrepancy was caused when he filled out his application and wrote 4-7-61 instead of 7-4-61.

Relatives said Hadayet was a Cairo-born accountant who ran a limousine company out of his Irvine apartment. Hassan Mostafa Mahfouz, who is married to Hadayet's aunt, said Hadayet had studied commerce at Ain Shams University in Cairo, and had worked as an accountant in a bank before he left for the United States in 1992.

"He is a very, very tender person and close to his family," Mahfouz said in Cairo. He confirmed that Thursday was his nephew's birthday.

Hadayet, his wife and two sons, ages 8 and 11, lived in a small apartment building in a middle-class section of Orange County. His family had left for Egypt about a week ago.

Neighbors said Hadayet was quiet, but became angry when an upstairs neighbor hung large American and Marine Corps flags from a balcony above his front door after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"He complained about it to the apartment manager. He thought it was being thrown in his face," neighbor Steve Thompson said.

There was no record of such a complaint, said Rich Elbaum, a spokesman for The Irvine Co., which owns and manages the complex where Hadayet lived.

The flags were there the day of the shooting. A bumper sticker on Hadayet's front door that read "Read the Koran" was removed by authorities.

The FBI searched the apartment Thursday night, impounding a Toyota Camry and carrying away a computer, books, binders and other material. They refused to say what else the search turned up.

Hadayet's state limousine permit, issued in August 1997, was revoked last November when he failed to maintain insurance papers on file with the state, the Public Utilities Commission said. Irvine Police Lt. Dave Freedland said Hadayet had three contacts with the department since 1996 - all of them "unremarkable."

Kobi Metzler, 44, who lives near Hadayet, said his 16-year-old daughter recently asked Hadayet about using his limo service to go to her prom.

"She came home and said 'Dad, this guy is so cool,'" Metzler said, adding that Hadayet offered his daughter a low price.

While authorities tried to piece together the motive for the killings, families of the victims mourned their loss.

Ticket agent Victoria Hen, 25, and Yaakov Aminov, 46, a jeweler and father of eight who was dropping off a friend, were fatally shot in the attack.

Hen, who was born in Israel, moved to this country in 1990 and planned to marry soon. She started work for El Al about a month ago, family friend Joe Knoller said.

"Her main job was to actually smile at people, to actually make them feel comfortable when they come up to the line, and she definitely did that," he said.

Aminov, who had taken a friend to the airport, emigrated from Israel 13 years ago. A devout Orthodox Jew, he often could be found at the Yad Avraham Temple in North Hollywood, helping with donations and temple renewal projects.

"He loved people," said Aminov's brother-in-law, Mark Ezerzer. "He loved everyone."