A man went on a rampage with a machete and a can of wasp spray inside the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport before he was shot by a law enforcement officer, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said.
Normand said Richard White, 63, approached a security checkpoint just before 8 p.m., and when he was challenged by a TSA agent he pulled out a can of was spray and sprayed the agent in the face.
He then sprayed another agent and attacked a third with a machete, before running through the metal detector. A law enforcement officer stationed at the airport was alerted and shot White three times, striking him in the face, chest and thigh, Normand said. A bystander was grazed on the arm by one of the officer's bullets.
Normand said White, who most recently was a taxi driver and who has no significant criminal history, was taken to a hospital and was "unresponsive." The agent who was injured by the machete "is OK and is being treated," he said.
Bystanders described a chaotic scene. ""I was in the line and I heard people scuffling, and I saw this man waving the knife up in the air," a witness, Calen Bedford, told NBC News.
"They tried tackling him to the ground," said Bedford, "and the man with the knife and the TSA agents ran into a metal detector and pushed it over."
The incident happened in Concourse B, which is typically a busy part of the airport, Normand said. Several travelers suffered minor injuries after they collided with furniture while scrambling to get away from the chaos.
Normand said investigators don't believe White is connected to anyone at the airport, and investigators are trying to determine if he had any mental health issues. "We do not know what the motivation is," Normand said.
Bedford said heard a gun go off just after White and the TSA agents ran around a corner and out of sight. "All I remember was that when I heard that first gun shot that you hit the floor," he said.
The airport was shut down for about 20 minutes, Normand said.
— Phil Helsel
First published March 20 2015, 7:34 PM
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