Accused LAX shooter moved from hospital to federal facility
The man charged in a deadly shooting rampage at Los Angeles International Airport has been released from a local hospital and taken to a federal holding facility, law enforcement sources confirmed.
The sources said Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, was released from Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on Monday and taken to the federal facility. He has not been scheduled for a court date.
Authorities allege it was Ciancia who opened fire inside the airport the morning of Nov. 1, killing Transportation Security Administration Officer Gerardo I. Hernandez and wounding three others. Ciancia was shot in the head and leg during a gun battle with police.
Ciancia was initially listed in critical condition. He was upgraded to fair condition on Nov. 12.
Ciancia has been charged with the murder of a federal officer and the commission of violence at an airport. If convicted of the charges, he could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Authorities allege that Ciancia targeted TSA workers in the attack and had written in a signed note that he wanted to kill TSA agents and “instill fear in their traitorous minds.†Witnesses to the shooting said the gunman asked whether they worked for the TSA before moving on.
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Kate Mather covered crime, policing and breaking news across Southern California before leaving The Times in 2018 to attend law school. A native of Lawrence, Kan., she studied journalism at USC before first joining The Times in 2011. Mather was part of the team of reporters that received a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, as well as the team that was a Pulitzer finalist for its reporting on a deadly 2014 rampage in Isla Vista, Calif.
Richard Winton is an investigative crime writer for the Los Angeles Times and part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2011. Known as @lacrimes on Twitter, during almost 30 years at The Times he also has been part of the breaking news staff that won Pulitzers in 1998, 2004 and 2016.