Tongan MP Semisi Sika said he and his sister Lupe Tu’i’one were lucky they came out of LAX Terminal 3 just before it was shut down by police following a shooting spree this morning at about 9am PT.
US Police said a suspect was taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport Friday after a shooting at a Terminal 3 checkpoint left a TSA employee injured and produced "mutiple victims."
NBC News reports that one TSA employee was killed and a second employee was wounded in the gunfire. The report could not be immediately confirmed by police or airport officials.
MP Sika wrote in a Facebook chat with Kaniva News saying, “I was driving by the terminal when people were rushing out . Its terminal 3 , Virgin America's arrival
“I was lucky to get out before the shut down.
“I went to pick up my sister at Delta and got out on time.
We're at Marriott here at LAX , roads are closed , helicopters are all over above us”, MP Sika told Kaniva News.
He said the shooting took place at Terminal 3 but they were at Terminal 6 after his sister arrived on Delta Airline.
Police, who shut down streets around the airport, said a possible second suspect was also taken into custody outside Terminal 2.
The gunman was wounded in the incident, the Los Angeles Times reports.
CNN reports that a gunman approached a checkpoint at the terminal and opened fire. Airport officials said the incident began at 9:30 a.m. PT.
Luke and Alexa Sieber of Green bay, Wisc., were in line at an airport counter when they heard eight shots followed by another burst of 20.
"It was an automatic weapon," Luke Sieber, a 25-year-old consutlant, said.
Witness Brian Keech said he heard "about a dozen gunshots" from inside the security gate at Terminal 3, which serves Allegiant Air, Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit, Virgin America and other airlines.
MP Sika is also the president of the Mate Ma'a Tonga team and he is in the US on a business matter.
