Still no sign of terror in LAX shootings

LOS ANGELES, July 5 (UPI) -- The Egyptian-born gunman who killed two people when he opened fire at Los Angeles International Airport was not on any government watch lists and there was still no indication that he was linked to any terrorist organizations, the FBI said Friday.

The FBI told reporters that the investigation into the July 4 shooting spree at the ticket counter of Israel's El Al airline they were not ruling out terrorism, but were also considering the possibility Hesham Mohamed Hadayet merely wanted to shoot Jewish people in a racist "hate crime," or was despondent over apparent domestic problems at home.

"We are looking at all aspects," said Richard Garcia, the head of the criminal section of the FBI's Los Angeles field office. "We want to make sure we have the exact information before we determine a motive."

Although Israeli officials were quick to conclude that Thursday's shooting was a terrorist attack, U.S. investigators have cautioned there may have been something else that motivated Hadayet to show up at the El Al counter at LAX and open fire.

"It appears he went there (to the El Al ticket counter) with the intention of killing. Why he did that is what we are still trying to determine," FBI agent Richard Garcia told reporters.

The Egyptian-born legal resident of the United States killed an El Al ticket agent, a 25-year-old woman, and another man before being shot to death by El Al security agents. Four people were hurt in the chaos. Two handguns and a knife were recovered at the scene and there was nothing found to indicate that Hadayet was planning to travel.

"We do not have an indication from the witnesses we interviewed...that there was any type of statement yelled by this individual prior to the shooting, which makes it very difficult to determine the exact motive," Garcia said.

"Generally, you would think that on a terrorist act...that someone would do something or leave something verbal ahead of time," Garcia said. "Then again, we haven't ruled that out, either."

One of the victims killed was identified as Yakov Aminov, 46, an Israeli-born diamond importer and father of eight who lived in the San Fernando Valley.

The parents of the slain ticket agent, 25-year-old Vickie Hen, issued a statement from their Chatsworth home Friday in which they called the shootings a terrorist act.

"This was a murder," said the statement from Avi and Rachel Hen that was read by a family friend. "We believe this was an act of terror against Israelis that was carried out on American soil."

Garcia said the statements from Israel were not adding any pressure to the U.S. investigation and chalked them up to a difference in investigative styles in which Israel presumes an act of terror "until it is proven otherwise."

"We can't make presumptions like that," Garcia cautioned. "We have to base our information on facts. We have to base it on information and extensive investigation that leads us to the motive before we can make a call like that."

Under the U.S. legal system, a defendant is innocent until proven guilty, and shooting sprees in the past at U.S. schools, businesses and post offices have often been sparked by domestic problems or mental illness.

Garcia said that a continuing investigation of Hadayet's background had thus far found no criminal record or indication he was connected to an Islamic or anti-Israeli extremist group, nor did he show up on watch lists of potential terrorists maintained by U.S. and international law enforcement agencies.

A search warrant had been requested Friday to allow agents to go through the files in the personal computer seized during a search of Hadayet's apartment in Irvine, where he ran a limousine service and lived with his wife and two sons.

There was also no indication that Hadayet harbored any dislike of Jewish people or hostility toward Israel.

The possibility that Hadayet was despondent, and possibly suicidal, seemed to take on increased weight Friday when Garcia confirmed that his family had left for Egypt a few days before the shootings, and that Irvine police had been to the apartment in the past on domestic disturbance calls.

The gunman's relatives were reportedly questioned in Cairo by Egyptian authorities.

Garcia cautioned, however, that it was not clear whether or not the trip Hadayet's family took to Egypt was prompted by marital discord or money problems. He also said that domestic police calls could be anything from spousal abuse to irritation over a neighbor's loud music.

"We're also looking into the possibility that the person was despondent for some reason and this was an abnormal response to being despondent," he said.

Neighbors said that Hadayet's family seemed to be nice people, although Hadayet himself was described as being aloof and not very sociable.

"I only spoke to him once, but he gave me the cold shoulder," neighbor Scott Carstens told Los Angeles television station KNBC.

Hadayet reportedly got into an argument with his upstairs neighbor shortly after Sept. 11 when the neighbor hung an American flag and a Marine Corps flag over his balcony, which slightly covered the approach to Hadayet's front door.