LAX shooting: Thousands of frustrated passengers stranded

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Los Angeles Airport Police Department Officer Fritz Corros stands in silence as an honor guard at the makeshift memorial to fallen TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Transportation Security Administration employees observe a moment of silence on Friday at 9:20 a.m., the same time of last Friday’s shooting that left TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez dead. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles Airport police Officer Fritz Corros stands in silence as an honor guard at the makeshift memorial to fallen TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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TSA employees embrace after observing a moment of silence at LAX. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Airport workers embrace in Terminal 3 after a memorial service for a slain TSA officer. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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A shoulder patch is among the items at the makeshift memorial for slain TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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LAX Airport Police officer Tom Dye passes the U.S. Honor Flag to TSA honor guard Brandy Richards as it arrives at LAX in memory of TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez on Wednesday. The Honor Flag will be used at Hernandez’s upcoming funeral services. (Brad Graverson / Getty Images)

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Honor guards escort a U.S. National Honor Flag from an airline jet in a ceremony to memorialize TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez, who was fatally shot at LAX. (David McNew / Getty Images)

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The U.S. Honor Flag is carried during a procession through Terminal 4 at LAX in memory of TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez. (Brad Graverson / Getty Images)

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A motorcade, consisting of members of the L.A. Police Department, L.A. Fire Department, and honor guards with the Transportation Security Administration, carries a U.S. National Honor Flag in memory of TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A TSA officer wipes her eyes as an honor guard escorts a U.S. National Honor Flag in a ceremony to memorialize TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez, who was fatally shot at LAX. (David McNew / Getty Images)

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TSA agents Blandina Beltran,left, and Wessane Legesse, right, comfort each other at a candlelight vigil for their co-worker slain TSA agent Gerardo I. Hernandez at Dockweiler State Beach on November 4, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. Beltran and Legesse both work in Terminal 3 at LAX. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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TSA shooting victim Tony Grigsby is consoled by his mother, Faye Maye, during a news conference Monday n Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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TSA shooting victim Tony Grigsby, escorted by his mother, Faye Maye, left, and grandmother Juanita Davis, walks slowly away from the media after a press conference Monday in Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Passengers continue through the screening area in LAX Terminal Three on Monday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Transportation Security Administration agents help travelers with baggage to check for screening at LAX Terminal Two on Monday morning after a deadly shooting Friday at Terminal Three caused mass delays and cancellations. A Transportation Security Administration agent was killed and several other people were wounded when a gunman opened fire in the Los Angeles International Airport terminal Friday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Transportation Security Administration agents embrace in front of Terminal 3 at LAX on Monday. Three days after a fellow agent was killed and several others wounded. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Transportation Security Administration agents help travelers with their luggage. Suspect Paul Anthony Ciancia’s family family notified Los Angeles police Friday morning after receiving text messages from the 23-year-old that made them concerned about his well-being. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Passengers and Transportation Security Administration walk past a memorial of flowers at LAX on Monday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Flowers for slain TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez at LAX Terminal 3. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles Airport Police Officer Dan Keehne and his canine partner keep an eye on passengers in Terminal 3. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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TSA officers are in very somber mood at the Terminal 3 check-in area. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Ana Hernandez, widow of slain TSA officer Gerardo I. Hernandez, makes a statement Saturday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Airport police Officer Dan Keehne patrols Terminal 3 with his canine partner. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Travelers wait to check in as construction workers take down tarp that prevented people from looking at the crime scene. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles airport staff members attend to a passenger who was trying get in through a closed entrance at Terminal 3. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles Airport police patrol with dogs in Terminal 3 a day after the shooting. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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TSA agents spend a quiet moment on a bridge that leads to Terminal 3. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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A TSA agent is absorbed in thought as he walks through Terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport. (Genaro Molina/ Los Angeles Times)

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Law enforcement including the FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Fire Department and LAX Airport Police gather in Terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport. A Transportation Security Administration agent was killed and several other people were wounded when a gunman opened fire at the airport. The attack caused widespread chaos, delaying flights and stranding thousands of passengers. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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Liza Espiritu, right, rests on her luggage while joining hundreds of passengers who wait to get permission to try to make their flights. Espiritu and her husbvand, Eric, standing behind her, were traveling from Manila with a stop at LAX en route to Phoenix. (Genaro Molina/ Los Angeles Times)

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After hours of waiting, passengers are allowed to enter LAX. They were held at the entrance to the arrival section of LAX. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Travelers make their toward LAX on one of the main roads into the airport. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Joseph Heyward, 87, right, and his wife get help with their luggage and a ride from Los Angeles firefighters. (Genaro Molina/ Los Angeles Times)

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Passengers wait outside Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 1, 2013, after a Transportation Security Administration agent was shot and killed and three other people were wounded when a gunman opened fire in Terminal 3. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck talks with other responders at Los Angeles International Airport. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press)

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The attack at LAX caused widespread chaos at the airport, with flights delayed and thousand of passengers left stranded on the streets in and around the airport. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Security presence outside Terminal 2 at LAX after a Transportation Security Administration agent was shot and several other people were wounded when a gunman opened fire in Terminal 3 Friday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Passengers wait outside Terminal 1 at LAX. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Passengers and airline personnel exit LAX after a Transportation Security Administration agent was shot and killed. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Passengers wait for Terminal 1 to reopen after a shooting at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)

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A passenger trundles his bag behind him outside LAX, where thousands of people were evacuated after a gunman opened fire in Terminal 3. (Michael Nelson / EPA)

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A police offer stretches crime scene tape across the road leading to Terminal 3 after Friday morning’s shooting. (Michael Nelson / EPA)

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Police stand guard outside Terminal 2 at Los Angeles International Airport. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)

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Passengers evacuated from LAX terminals walk with their luggage after a gunman opened fire inside Terminal 3. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

By Kate Mather

Nov. 1, 2013 3:31 PM PT

In the aftermath of a shooting at LAX on Friday that left one Transportation Security Administration dead and three others wounded, stranded air travelers were trying to make new plans or find their way home.

The roads are blocked off near the intersection of Century and Sepulveda boulevards, and one of the main thoroughfares into Los Angeles International Airport and freeways leading into the airport were also closed. Terminals 1 and 2 are slowly reopening, with airport employees and concessionaires being allowed to enter first.

Hundreds of people stood milling outside of the nearby Radisson hotel, spilling onto the sidewalk and into the street. A steady stream of passengers rolled suitcases and carried luggage, walking down Century Boulevard.

“It’s a little frustrating, but I guess I appreciate what they do for our security,” said 22-year-old Tyler Bozeman of Rancho Cucamonga.

Bozeman was supposed to fly to Alabama on Friday to visit family, but he arrived to find the airport closed.

But as the airport closure ticked past three hours, patience among hundreds of passengers stranded at the Radisson had started to wear thin.

Passengers with the suitcases filled the hotel lobby Friday afternoon to buy snacks, bottles of water and recharge cellphones as hundreds milled about outside trying to make alternate plans.

Some even made makeshift picnic area on strips of landscaping outside the hotel. Among them was Evangelina Rodriguez, 35, of Hacienda Heights, her husband and their 4-year-old son and 20-month-old daughter.

They were in a shuttle headed to the airport when news of the shooting broke out. The driver dropped them off at the hotel at 10 a.m. as police closed off access.

“It was just scary, we didn’t know what was happening,” Rodriguez said. “We were just glad we were outside.”

But three hours later, frustration was setting in as they tried to make alternative plans for flying to Chicago.

“The fact that here we are three hours later, it’s overblown,” said her husband, who declined to give his name. “I understand that people have to do their jobs, but this is ridiculous.”

Francis Specker, 50, was supposed to be on a flight for New York at 10:30 a.m. that was to depart from Terminal 3, where Friday’s shooting occurred.

Specker, from Riverside, was on the shuttle bus to the airport about 9:15 a.m. when the vehicle was stopped and the driver said it couldn’t get any closer to the airport. Specker checked Twitter and saw reports of the shooting and shared it with everyone else on the bus.

“It’s funny because I was hanging at the house ready to leave, but I didn’t want to wait at the airport, so I waited a half-hour. If I had gone to the airport, I probably would have seen the whole thing,” Specker said.

The shuttle turned around and came to a stop on Sepulveda Boulevard. He got off and walked to the Radisson and was still holding on to hope that he’d catch a flight later in the day.

Specker said he was living in New York at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and said Friday’s shooting was not a huge surprise.

“I guess this is sort of the new normal, right?”

He was, however, a bit frustrated and said “it’s one of the largest airports in the world and they’re not letting people get on with their lives.”

Leandro Peixoto, 37, of Sherman Oaks was worried about his 70-year-old mother, who was on the way to L.A. for her first time.

She’s flying from Brazil and doesn’t speak any English, Peixoto said, and was not carrying a phone. He had been unable to get in touch with her.

Sitting with on the curb near the hotel with his hands in his hair -- exasperated -- Peixoto said “the hardest part is not getting any information or ability to reach out to anyone who knows anything about her.”

He sat watching the stream of passengers coming down Century Boulevard in the hopes that one of them would be his mother.

“I just have to wait here,” he said.

ALSO:

Eyewitness accounts of LAX shooting

LAX shooting: ‘Multiple’ TSA agents shot by gunman with rifle

SoCal airport security boosted, some LAX flights routed to Ontario

Twitter: @katemather

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