TSA officers attacked at MSY
Mar 21, 2015, 6:52 am
#1
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TSA officers attacked at MSY
Link
Man going through Pre-Line with Wasp spray and a machete.
LEOs shot the perpetrator, but also hit a TSA officer and an bystander. Other injuries reported due to the panic. The perpetrator is reportedly in the hospital and unresponsive.
It's sad that this happened and my sympathies go out to everyone impacted by this nut.
The TSA did what they are supposed to do. The clerks and the checkpoint kept a nut with weapons off a plane. The WTMD worked. Unfortunately, I'm sure that TSA will use this crisis as propaganda to go above and beyond the WTMD, to suggest the clerks be armed (note the civilian shot by a LEO), and more offensive security measures.
Man going through Pre-Line with Wasp spray and a machete.
LEOs shot the perpetrator, but also hit a TSA officer and an bystander. Other injuries reported due to the panic. The perpetrator is reportedly in the hospital and unresponsive.
It's sad that this happened and my sympathies go out to everyone impacted by this nut.
The TSA did what they are supposed to do. The clerks and the checkpoint kept a nut with weapons off a plane. The WTMD worked. Unfortunately, I'm sure that TSA will use this crisis as propaganda to go above and beyond the WTMD, to suggest the clerks be armed (note the civilian shot by a LEO), and more offensive security measures.
Mar 21, 2015, 7:30 am
#3
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Certainly sounds like a mentally unstable person going off the deep end. He could have had some deranged vendetta against TSA or an individual TSO, or he could simply have chosen the airport as a good site for suicide by cop.
Mar 21, 2015, 10:32 am
#5
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Let's not pretend this wack job was discovered by the checkpoint to be harboring hidden weapons that he intended to bring on an airplane. It isn't even clear that he held a BP at this point.
He was wielding the wasp spray as he approached the checkpoint and then pulled the machete out and went to town.
It sounds like the TSOs did a good job of keeping themselves engaged with said wack job which is quite brave. Chasing him through the WTMD (ahem, after he had already started the attack) to airside is the correct direction - away from the queue and towards LEOs. LEO could have been a better shot but got the job done.
He was wielding the wasp spray as he approached the checkpoint and then pulled the machete out and went to town.
It sounds like the TSOs did a good job of keeping themselves engaged with said wack job which is quite brave. Chasing him through the WTMD (ahem, after he had already started the attack) to airside is the correct direction - away from the queue and towards LEOs. LEO could have been a better shot but got the job done.
Mar 21, 2015, 2:25 pm
#6
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 330
Sheriff says New Orleans airport attacker had explosives
| March 21, 2015 | Updated: March 21, 2015 2:58pm
KENNER, La. (AP) — Authorities says the machete-wielding man who was shot at New Orleans' international airport after trying to attack security agents was carrying explosives at the time.
Sheriff Newell Normand says suspect Richard White, who was shot by a security agent at the airport late Friday, was carrying a bag loaded with six Molotov cocktails. Material determined to have come from smoke bombs was also found.
Normand says White is hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
The sheriff suggested that the suspect has had "mental health" issues. His family has been cooperating with the investigation.
| March 21, 2015 | Updated: March 21, 2015 2:58pm
KENNER, La. (AP) — Authorities says the machete-wielding man who was shot at New Orleans' international airport after trying to attack security agents was carrying explosives at the time.
Sheriff Newell Normand says suspect Richard White, who was shot by a security agent at the airport late Friday, was carrying a bag loaded with six Molotov cocktails. Material determined to have come from smoke bombs was also found.
Normand says White is hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
The sheriff suggested that the suspect has had "mental health" issues. His family has been cooperating with the investigation.
Mar 22, 2015, 10:55 am
#8
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As predicted, the TSA and some others are attempting to exploit this terrorizing nutcase's attack to again argue that the TSA should be allowed to have some armed TSA personnel at screening checkpoints, all so that there are more armed government personnel at airports than is already the case (with the presence, where applicable, of armed local/state/federal LEOs assigned or passing through airports).
Mar 22, 2015, 4:22 pm
#9
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As predicted, the TSA and some others are attempting to exploit this terrorizing nutcase's attack to again argue that the TSA should be allowed to have some armed TSA personnel at screening checkpoints, all so that there are more armed government personnel at airports than is already the case (with the presence, where applicable, of armed local/state/federal LEOs assigned or passing through airports).
I wonder if they get the irony that the TSA clerk that was "inches away" from being hit by the machete-wielding-terrwrowist was, in fact, ACTUALLY SHOT by a LEO. Or that many nearby passengers were almost shot.
I wonder if they understand the significant difference between highly-trained LEOs carrying firearms and giving firearms to people that can't master the task of matching names between a piece of plastic and a piece of paper.
Silly me. They need firearms because the pretty blue officer uniforms didn't garner all the respect and authority they must have to carry plastic buckets back and forth.
Or maybe they plan to protect us by shooting us first.
Mar 22, 2015, 5:48 pm
#10
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Right on cue.
I wonder if they get the irony that the TSA clerk that was "inches away" from being hit by the machete-wielding-terrwrowist was, in fact, ACTUALLY SHOT by a LEO. Or that many nearby passengers were almost shot.
I wonder if they understand the significant difference between highly-trained LEOs carrying firearms and giving firearms to people that can't master the task of matching names between a piece of plastic and a piece of paper.
Silly me. They need firearms because the pretty blue officer uniforms didn't garner all the respect and authority they must have to carry plastic buckets back and forth.
Or maybe they plan to protect us by shooting us first.
I wonder if they get the irony that the TSA clerk that was "inches away" from being hit by the machete-wielding-terrwrowist was, in fact, ACTUALLY SHOT by a LEO. Or that many nearby passengers were almost shot.
I wonder if they understand the significant difference between highly-trained LEOs carrying firearms and giving firearms to people that can't master the task of matching names between a piece of plastic and a piece of paper.
Silly me. They need firearms because the pretty blue officer uniforms didn't garner all the respect and authority they must have to carry plastic buckets back and forth.
Or maybe they plan to protect us by shooting us first.
I wonder if this guy would have attacked a pre-9/11 checkpoint staffed by Argenbright employees who looked like theater ushers?
Mar 22, 2015, 6:19 pm
#11
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: USA
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LEOs poorly positioned?
Forget arming TSA, just move the stand where the LEOs text and read the newspaper to before the checkpoint.
LAX, MSY, would have at least had a chance at protecting the checkpoint or engaging the violator pre-TSA.
LAX, MSY, would have at least had a chance at protecting the checkpoint or engaging the violator pre-TSA.
Mar 22, 2015, 9:40 pm
#12
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Yeah, put the guns up front so they can be taken out first.
Mar 23, 2015, 4:59 am
#13
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Hence, the action by the TSA has come back to bite them.
Mar 23, 2015, 5:19 am
#14
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Kinda' what I was thinking upstream in post #10.
