The young man believed to have carried out a shooting at Los Angeles International Airport had sent a sibling a text message mentioning suicide, leading their father to seek authorities' help in finding him, a New Jersey police chief said Friday. 
 
 Paul Ciancia's father called Pennsville Police Chief Allen Cummings early Friday afternoon saying another of his children had received a text message from the 23-year-old "in reference to him taking his own life," the chief told The Associated Press. 
 
 The elder Ciancia asked for help in locating Paul, Cummings said. The chief called Los Angeles police, which sent a patrol car to Ciancia's apartment. It wasn't clear whether the police visited before or after the airport shooting. 
 
 "Basically, there were two roommates there" Cummings said. "They said, `We saw him yesterday and he was fine.'" 
 
 He told Cianci's father that because of his son's age, he couldn't take a missing persons report. 
 
 A law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity identified Paul Ciancia as the man who pulled a semi-automatic rifle from a bag and shot his way past a security checkpoint at the airport, killing a security officer and wounding two other people. 
 
 The gunman was wounded in a shootout with police and was taken into custody, Los Angeles police said. 
 
 The official who identified Ciancia was briefed at the airport on the investigation and requested anonymity because was he was not authorized to speak publicly. 
 
 A motive wasn't immediately clear. The shooter was wearing fatigues and carrying a bag containing a handwritten note that said he "wanted to kill TSA and pigs," the official said. 
 
 A second law enforcement official confirmed the identity, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly. 
 
 The Pennsville police department has had no dealings with the younger Ciancia, Cummings said. 
 
 Outside the father's home Friday in Pennsville _ in southern New Jersey across the Delaware River from Wilmington, Del. _ a police cruiser blocked the long driveway to the home, which isn't visible from the road. Phone calls weren't answered, and efforts to reach siblings were also unsuccessful. 
 
 Neighbor Josh Pagan, 17, said that he would sometimes encounter Ciancia at orthodontist appointments, but that it had been at least two years since the last one. 
 
 "He was never weird toward me. He never gave me any weird vibes," he said, adding that in the 10 years he's lived across the street from the Ciancia family "they've been nothing but nice to us." 
 
 Ciancia's father owns an auto body shop, Cummings said. 
 
 "I've been here 23 years and they are a good family," he said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Rubinkam reported from Pennsylvania. Associated Press writer Tami Abdollah in Los Angeles and Alicia Caldwell in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| Dressed for combat and carrying a note saying he wanted to “kill TSA and pigs,” a gunman who grew up in New Jersey opened fire at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, killing one Transportation Security Administration officer and injuring two other people, officials said. 
 
 The terror in Terminal 3 claimed the life of the first TSA officer killed in the line of duty in the agency’s 12-year history and left the gunman, who authorities identified as 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia, wounded in a shootout with police. 
 
 A coast away, Ciancia’s relatives in the Salem County community of Pennsville — about 15 miles from Wilmington, Del. — frantically tried to alert police he may be suicidal, based on a text message he sent his brother. 
 
 But he was away from his Los Angeles apartment when police arrived, and the shooting at one of America’s largest and most famous airports — commonly referred to as LAX — set off a stampede of people who ignored an officer’s shouts of: “Everybody on the floor! On the floor now!” Some people were injured in the mayhem, authorities said. 
 
 The Los Angeles Times reported Ciancia asked people whether they worked for the TSA before deciding whether to shoot them or let them walk. 
 
 A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly, told the Associated Press Ciancia was carrying a handwritten note that said he wanted to kill TSA employees and “pigs.” 
 
 The official said the rant refers to how Ciancia believed his constitutional rights were being violated by TSA searches and that he’s a “pissed-off patriot” upset at former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The note and the gunman’s rifle each had an orange TSA inspection sticker on it. 
 
 The reverberations were felt in New Jersey, where the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Newark Liberty International Airport as well as LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports, increased patrols. 
 
 “Safety and security of our facilities and the millions of people we serve daily are always of the utmost concern, and our police and staff remain vigilant against any possible threats,” Port Authority Chief Security Officer Joseph Dunne said. 
 
 The chaos began shortly before 9:30 a.m. Pacific time — 12:30 p.m. in New Jersey — when Ciancia entered the airport, pulled a semi-automatic rifle from a bag and opened fire at a security checkpoint, authorities said. 
 
 “This morning, a gunman opened fire in LAX’s Terminal 3, killing a TSA agent — the first to die in the line of duty — and shooting two other people, at least one of which was a TSA agent,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a late afternoon news conference. “Additional individuals have had minor injuries and have been treated. Airport police officers engaged the suspect, opened fire, wounded him and took him into custody.” Ciancia’s condition was not released. 
 
 In a statement Friday night, the TSA identified the dead officer as 39-year-old Gerardo I. Hernandez. 
 
 In addition to Hernandez and two other people who were shot, “there are additional injuries, some of which seem to be potential evasion injuries — where they may have injured themselves trying to get away,” David Bowdich, special agent in charge of the counterterrorism division at FBI Los Angeles, said at the same news conference. 
 
 Of Ciancia, Bowdich said, “We are currently investigating his background and more about him.” 
 
 Between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. California time, 746 flights were affected — 46 were diverted to other local airports and the rest were either held on the ground at LAX or at their originating airport, said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX. 
 
 “This has been a trying day for everyone,” she said, as forensics teams from the FBI and Los Angeles Police Department continued their long, methodical work. 
 
 Celebrities and regular folk alike were held up in the delays during peak traveling hours. 
 
 “Currently waiting on the plane in a remote parking area. I am safe. Praying for the victims of this shooting,” tweeted Jersey native Nick Jonas, of the Jonas Brothers pop band. 
 
 Actor and director James Franco was more blunt, tweeting, complete with asterisks, “At #lax Some (expletive) shot up the place.” 
 
 Meanwhile, local and federal authorities arrived at the Ciancia home in Pennsville Friday night, and were meeting with family members inside, according to the South Jersey Times, a sister publication to The Star-Ledger. Pennsville is a community of about 13,000 not far from the Delaware Memorial Bridge. 
 
 Police vehicles blocked the long driveway leading to the home, which sits far back off the road in a wooded area. 
 
 Neighbors were shocked by the news. 
 
 “I talked to him here and there. He seemed very sociable, just a normal guy,” Joshua Pagan, 17, who lives across the street from the Ciancia home, told the South Jersey Times. “When we were younger, we both had braces, so I would see him at (orthodontist) appointments. Never once did I see anything off about him. When I first found out, it was almost like — it can’t be him.” 
 
 Pennsville Police Chief Allen Cummings said Ciancia’s father, also named Paul, called him early Friday afternoon about a disturbing text message Ciancia sent “in reference to him taking his own life.” 
 
 Cummings said Ciancia’s father asked him for help in locating his son. Cummings called Los Angeles police, who went to Ciancia’s apartment. There, two roommates said they had seen him Thursday and that he was fine. 
 
 Ciancia’s father owns an auto body shop in Salem County. 
 
 The younger Ciancia is a 2008 graduate of the Salesianum School, a Roman Catholic independent school for boys in Wilmington, Del., and moved out west about a year-and-a-half ago, the South Jersey Times reported. 
 
 Cummings said the Ciancias are a “good family” and that his department had had no dealings with the younger Ciancia. 
 
 Ciancia had at least five full 30-round magazines on him, an official briefed on the investigation told the Associated Press. The official said Ciancia was shot in the mouth and leg by two airport police officers. 
 
 “We just hit the deck. Everybody in the line hit the floor and shots just continued,” said Xavier Savant, who was waiting in the security line where the shooting took place. He described it as a “Bam! Bam! Bam!” burst of gunfire. 
 
 Savant, who was heading to New York with his family for the weekend, said panicked travelers ran through the metal detectors and into the terminal. 
 
 “My whole thing was to get away from him,” he said. 
 
 J. David Cox Sr., national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA workers, released a statement saying he was sickened by the “heinous act.” 
 
 “Thank you to all of our brave (transportation security officers) who put their lives on the line every day to keep the flying public safe,” he said. 
 
 The South Jersey Times and the Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| Authorities say 23-year-old Paul Ciancia walked inside Terminal 3 at LAX and pulled an assault rifle from a bag. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports. 
 
 A man carrying anti-government material and an assault rifle shot his way through security at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, killing a Transportation Security Administration worker and wounding two others — after sending a suicidal text message to his family, authorities said. 
 
 NBC News Paul Anthony Ciancia 
 
 The gunman who sent travelers diving for cover and fleeing onto the tarmac — identified by authorities as 23-year-old Los Angeles resident Paul Anthony Ciancia — was shot in the chest by law enforcement and taken into custody in critical condition. 
 
 The TSA confirmed the identity of the slain officer as 39-year-old Gerardo I. Hernandez, according to an agency official. Hernandez is the first officer to have been killed in the line of duty in the agency's 12-year history. 
 
 Law enforcement officials said at a news conference Friday afternoon that the crime scene is extensive and that authorities are still investigating the suspect's background. While airport terminals 1 and 2 are being reopened, Terminal 3 remains shut down, officials said. 
 
 The motive isn't clear, but it's believed the suspect had anti-government views based on written materials he was carrying, the officials said. He texted his brother in New Jersey before the shooting and said he was thinking about killing himself, police told NBC Philadelphia. 
 
 Federal officials told NBC News it was unclear whether the gunman was targeting the TSA or was trying to shoot his way farther into the airport. But a witness said the shooter, calmly walking through the terminal with his weapon, approached him with a one-word question. 
 
 "All he said was, 'TSA?' Just like that," Leon Saryan told MSNBC. 
 
 The shooting started about 9:20 a.m. (12:20 p.m. ET) at Terminal 3, which serves Virgin America and other airlines. 
 
 NBC News Authorities believe the gunman used a a .223-caliber semiautomatic assault-style rifle. 
 
 The gunman walked through an "exit" lane reserved for passengers leaving the secure area of the airport, pulled the .223-caliber semiautomatic assault-style rifle out of a bag and opened fire at the security checkpoint, officials said. 
 
 Related: 
 
 As he walked through the terminal, still firing, airport police pursued him. At a cluster of restaurants in the rear of the terminals, near the waiting area for some of the gates, they shot him several times in the chest, law enforcement sources said. 
 
 "He's been shot and he's been treated. He survived," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said at the news conference. 
 
 The mayor added that the suspect had "more than 100 more rounds that could've literally killed everybody in that terminal today." 
 
 When the gunfire erupted, travelers who were waiting to snake through the security line suddenly had to abandon their suitcases and hit the ground. 
 
 "We were just standing there in line, and somebody started shooting," said Nick Pugh, a witness, who told NBC Los Angeles that he heard eight to 10 shots. "Everyone dropped to the floor and started crawling along the ground." 
 
 The shooting brought one of the nation's busiest airports to a standstill. 
 
 Eyewitness Leon Saryan talks about his experience at the Los Angeles airport and his interaction with the gunman. 
 
 Officials said 746 flights were affected, 46 of which were diverted. The rest were held on the ground in Los Angeles or at their originating airports, said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports. The ground stop applied to airports roughly west of and including Denver, officials said. It was imposed shortly after the shooting began and was lifted at 3 p.m. (6 p.m. ET) 
 
 "This has been a trying day for everyone, I know," Lindsey added. 
 
 The Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights at LAX, where 1,500 flights take off and land every day. Passengers heading there for departing flights were stuck in colossal traffic jams. Some abandoned their rides and rolled their suitcases the last distance to the airport. 
 
 Saryan said he was "cowering in a corner" when the gunman came over and asked whether he was with the TSA, even though he was in street clothes. 
 
 "He was calm. He was walking slowly," Saryan said. "He must have felt that he was in control, because he had his weapon and nobody else did at that time. 
 
 "But for the grace of God, you know, I would have been one of the fatalities," he said. 
 
 The airport said that seven people were injured in all but that the nature of all injuries wasn't clear. 
 
 A doctor from Harbor-UCLA Medical Center said two victims were taken there, including Hernandez, who was killed by a round that broke into fragments inside his torso, causing massive bleeding and chest and abdominal injuries. 
 
 Shooting suspect Paul Anthony Ciancia carried anti-government written material that was critical of the federal government and the TSA, officials say. NBC's Pete Williams reports. 
 
 Dr. David Plurad said that the victim didn't have a pulse when he arrived and that surgeons worked for more than an hour to try to revive him. 
 
 "We made every effort to stop the bleeding and get the heart to beat on his own," Plurad said. 
 
 The union that represents TSA workers told NBC Los Angeles that Hernandez was a behavioral detention officer who scanned passengers for unusual behavior and had been transferred to Los Angeles from Montana recently. 
 
 Another TSA worker was shot in the leg, said Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the TSA. 
 
 Brian Adamick, an accountant who was waiting for a flight to Chicago, spoke with a TSA agent with a leg wound on one of the buses that sped to the tarmac to evacuate passengers taking cover there. 
 
 "His right ankle is injured and he gets on and sits in the seat next to me, and I said, 'Are you OK?' He said: 'I'm fine. I got shot. Don't worry, I've been shot before,'" Adamick told NBC News in a telephone interview. 
 
 "I said, let me take a look, and he pulls up the pant leg and there's a flesh wound — 3 to 4 inches — looks like it's straight out of Hollywood, maybe a drop of blood or two," he said. 
 
 Another witness told MSNBC that there was an initial round of shots, then a pause, then more shots. An airline worker told travelers, "Go out! Go out!" and people streamed down the stairs and onto the tarmac for safety, he said. 
 
 Former Los Angeles and New York Police Chief Bill Bratton discusses the shooting that killed a TSA worker and wounded others at the Los Angeles airport. 
 
 Authorities said the suspect was living in Los Angeles but is originally from Pennsville, N.J., where his parents and brother still reside. 
 
 Pennsville Police Chief Allen Cummings said Ciancia texted his brother in the morning and said he was thinking about taking his own life. The family called local police, who alerted Los Angeles police. Officers went to Ciancia's apartment; he wasn't there, but his roommates said everything was fine, Cummings said. 
 
 President Barack Obama was briefed on the shooting, the White House said in a statement. Obama called TSA Administrator John Pistole to express his condolences to the family and friends of those injured, including the TSA employee who was killed in the line of duty, a White House official said. 
 
 In 2002, an Egyptian national opened fire at the El Al ticket counter at LAX, killing two Israelis before he was shot dead. Authorities ruled it a terrorist incident, even though the shooter was not tied to a known group. 
 
 Kristen Welker and Becky Bratu of NBC News contributed to this report. 
 
 This story was originally published on
– We've got a name but still no real explanation of why a shooter opened fire at LAX today. Authorities have identified the gunman at Los Angeles International Airport as 23-year-old Paul Ciancia. A law-enforcement official says Ciancia was carrying a note that said he "wanted to kill TSA and pigs," reports AP. One witness tells NBC News that the gunman approached him calmly in the airport while carrying his weapon. "All he said was, 'TSA?' Just like that." (The one person killed in today's shooting was a TSA employee.) Not much is known about Ciancia at this point, but a separate AP story has this surprising nugget: His father in Pennsville, NJ, called police there this afternoon because Ciancia had texted one of his siblings suggesting he was about to kill himself. The New Jersey chief called the police in LA, who sent a patrol car to his apartment. He wasn't there. "Basically, there were two roommates there," says the Pennsville chief. "They said, 'We saw him yesterday and he was fine.'"