Murphy, Ridge Weigh In As Travelers Still Feeling Impact Of LAX Shooting
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Travelers across the country are still feeling the impact of Friday's shooting at Los Angeles International Airport.
The terminal where the shooting happened reopened late Saturday afternoon, but more than 1,500-hundred flights have been affected.
James Todaro flew from Los Angeles to Charlotte before arriving in Pittsburgh Saturday morning. He thought his flight from LAX would be canceled after the fatal shooting.
"It was just tragic and shocking, and I was questioning whether my flight was going to go out," said Todaro.
Twenty-four hours later, passengers arriving at Pittsburgh International Airport from Los Angeles obviously weren't there during the shooting, but they could still feel the impact of what happened at LAX on Friday.
Hundreds of passengers were terrified and flights were disrupted when a gunman opened fire at Los Angeles International. A Transportation Security Administration employee was killed and two others were wounded.
Afterwards, Todaro says no one could drive to the airport.
"The whole highway was closed down leading up to the ramps going to the airport. We had to walk two miles down the middle of the expressway," said Todaro.
Passengers noticed some immediate changes in security.
"There was an increase in security presence, a lot of police cars," said Itupa Garba, a traveler from LAX.
"The security changes, you could tell everyone was a little more intense and on edge, but security seemed to be just doing their job," added Todaro.
The gunman fired up to a dozen shots from inside the security gate.
Congressman Tim Murphy says the incident raises an important question about airport safety.
"Still, it comes down to how can you make these places safer," said Rep. Murphy. "Do you need to have police presence visible up front instead of right at the security checkpoint? Who knows?"
But Tom Ridge, the former secretary of Homeland Security, thinks more armed officers in airports is a bad idea.
"You have literally hundreds and hundreds of armed police officers roaming every major airport in America, and I don't think arming another 40-, 50- or 60,000 people – I'm not sure how many employees there are – is really going to… would have prevented this incident from happening," said Ridge.
RELATED LINKS:
At Least 1 Dead After Shooting At LAX (11/1/13)
More Reports by Bob Allen
