Woman Traveling To Philadelphia Describes Hearing Gunshots At LAX
By Walt Hunter, Natasha Brown
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A sense of shock and disbelief from passengers at Philadelphia International Airport learning about the shooting at Los Angeles International Airport (see related story).
"I'm totally shocked. I did not expect anything like that to happen," said passenger Jennifer Blanks.
Blank's 4 p.m. flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles left on time, but the shooting in Terminal 3 at LAX Friday morning sent ripple effects throughout air travel around the country. Philadelphia was no exception.
Cynthia Eieya is still in Los Angeles trying to get to Philadelphia. She was headed here to Philadelphia leaving around 9:30 a.m. L.A. time Friday morning when suddenly, as she prepared to board her flight -- the sound of gunshots.
VIEW: Complete Coverage From CBS LA
"He walked in and was mumbling or something, and had a big gun in his hand," she said.
Walt Hunter reports...
In a phone interview with CBS 3, Cynthia Eieya described hearing shots and seeing passengers scramble inside Terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport where she was waiting to board a flight to Philadelphia to visit her sister.
READ: Local Woman On Last Flight To Land At LAX Before Ground Stop Declared
"Then there was commotion, people running and everything, and I heard a huge pop and then I ran," she said.
Here in Philadelphia International Airport, passengers headed to Los Angeles were shocked to hear about the violence.
"Count your lucky stars you are not there at the time. You can only imagine how terrifying it is for everybody there," passenger Shane Duncan said.
Still others who had boarded a flight in Los Angeles three hours before the shooting, were stunned to learn what had just happened in the airport they had just left.
"It's a jolt, especially when it just happens right where you were," a passenger said.
"I had no idea. They didn't say anything in the air," another passenger said.
Many of the passengers who had just departing Los Angeles told CBS 3 they learned about the violence on electronic devices as their flight was in the air headed to Philadelphia.
"Just turn on your phone and there it is," a passenger said.
"People were looking it up on the internet and so forth. But, you know, you just have to take each day one day at a time and be thankful that you are here," another passenger said.
Philadelphia Police say no special increase in security has occurred here at the airport as a result of this incident, officials pointing out security here is already at its highest, constant levels.
