A Zimbabwean journalist, Fungai Machirori survived the shooting incident at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, which left one federal security agent dead and several other people wounded.
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The lone gunman, Paul Anthony Ciancia, armed with an assault rifle, opened fire at Terminal 3, killing one and sending dozens scattering before he was wounded and captured.
Fungai, daughter of prominent Zimbabwean journalist and former editor, Edna Machirori, broke the news of the shooting on her Facebook page. She runs a feminist website www.herzimbabwe.co.zw.
“I can’t believe I am even typing this but there are gunmen at Los Angeles Airport. We heard shots and had to run. We are on the runway.
People are crying. I saw one of them as we ran out. He was holding what looks like a rifle. In complete shock,” Machirori wrote on her Facebook page.
Machirori yesterday said she only left the airport 14 hours later after presenting witness statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Los Angeles Police Department. She said the witnesses gave reports and then went for interviews where they described what they saw.
Machirori said some witnesses had seen the gunman as he tore through the security checks firing the shots.
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Others saw him in different parts of the airport as he went along his way.
Machirori said she saw the gunman just before he was shot by the police coming from the food court where she had bought breakfast a while before.
“He was walking towards us as we bundled through a very narrow door that led onto steps onto the runway,” she said. “At that point, we didn’t know if he was following us or if there were more people shooting.”
Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti said it was fortunate that the authorities had tackled the suspect because he had been armed with more than 100 rounds of ammunition.
“He had enough ammunition to have literally killed everyone in that terminal,” Garcetti said.
The incident disrupted fli-ghts and inconvenienced passengers.
