TSA agent, gunman killed at Los Angeles Airport

Operations at Los Angeles International Airport in the US state of California were suspended Friday after a Transportation Security Administration agent was shot and killed by a fellow agent at a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the suspect, himself a TSA agent, has been killed, and that three or four other TSA employees also were injured in the shooting inside Terminal 3 of the airport.

Conditions of the victims have not been released.

According to reports, the gunman opened fire with a high-powered rifle.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said it was responding to the incident at the airport. Two terminals at the airport have been evacuated and the Federal Aviation Administration has grounded flights.

Television news reports have shown ambulances transferring gurneys and police officers walking on rooftops of terminals, as well as parked outside in cruisers.

Witnesses have described people running in the terminal following the gunshots.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the security incident and the White House is in touch with law enforcement, a White House spokesman said.

The airport has had several security breaches in the last few weeks, with two dry-ice bombs going off in an employee bathroom and on the tarmac.

More than 28,400 people have died by gunshots in the US since the massacre of 26 elementary school students and teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, last December, according to The Slate’s estimate, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.