A shooting incident that shut down Los Angeles International Airport for most of the day Friday was affecting some travel operations in Santa Barbara.
A man walked into Terminal 3 at LAX at about 9:20 a.m., and began shooting with a high-powered rifle, injuring several people before being shot and taken into custody by police.
A TSA agent was reported killed, and others were believed to have been injured, but that could not be confirmed.
A total of seven people were injured, according to a statement from Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX.
The lone gunman — identified by airport officials as Paul Ciancia, 23, of Los Angeles — was reported to be in critical conditions, but officials would not confirm his status.
All United Airlines flights between LAX and Santa Barbara Airport were ground stopped shortly after the incident, preventing them from leaving the local airport as well as leaving LAX to fly to Santa Barbara, said Santa Barbara Airport Director Karen Ramsdell.
However, the ground stop in Santa Barbara had been lifted as of about 1 p.m., according to Hazel Johns, assistant airport director.
“No other airlines flying into or out of Santa Barbara Airport have been affected at this time,” Ramsdell said.
Johns encouraged travelers to check with their airlines for any schedule changes, to confirm departures and arrivals, and to watch their local news for changes in the situation at LAX.
Santa Barbara Airbus, which runs eight daily trips to LAX, has four buses affected by the airport closure, said Mark Klopstein, vice president of operations and one of the company’s owners.
“It’s stymied everything,” Klopstein said. “They’re not letting anyone in or out at this point.”
The company had one bus caught in a massive traffic jam on 96th street, one of the main routes into the airport, Klopstein said.
A later bus was able to pull off the road earlier and make a food and restroom stop, Klopstein said.
Two other Airbus vehicles were also caught in the jam.
Airbus’ next vehicle was expected to leave on schedule at noon, Klopstein said.
“We going to roll no matter what,” he said.
LAX officials said some flights were taking off from the south side of the airport, and other were being allowed to land. But they stressed that virtually every flight today involving LAX was likely to be either delayed or canceled.
As of midday, 71 flights at LAX had been delayed, and 16 had been canceled, according to the FlightAware.com website.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
