Dead man found in LAX restroom, his head covered in a bag and hands bound
September 15, 2010 | 11:10
am
A man whose head was covered in a bag and who had his hands bound
was found dead Wednesday morning in a restroom at Terminal 3 at Los
Angeles International Airport, authorities said.
Airport police were called to the bathroom shortly before 8 a.m. and
found a body slumped in a stall, according to sources familiar with the
case. They called Los Angeles police, who dispatched detectives with the
department's robbery-homicide division to investigate.
The sources said it was not immediately clear if the death was a suicide or a homicide.
[Updated at 12:30 p.m.: Los Angeles police said that
a preliminary investigation indicates that the man in the restroom died
from a possible suicide. They said the case has been turned over to the
Los Angeles County Coroner to determine official cause of death. They
also stressed that the investigation was in its early stages.]
Law enforcement officials said they could not recall a killing ever taking place inside the airport terminal. [Updated at 1:30 p.m.
In 2002, Jacob Aminov, 46, and Victoria Hen, 25, were slain and
Sarah Phillips, 61, was wounded during an attack at the El Al airline
counter at LAX by 41-year-old Egyptian immigrant Hesham Mohamed Hadayet.
Hadayet was shot and killed by an El Al security guard. FBI agents
later said Hadayet was angry over Israel's treatment of the
Palestinians.]
Through the first half of the year, total crime at LAX decreased 6%
to 1,146 incidents, from 1,222 incidents reported during the same period
a year earlier. The total number of arrests decreased marginally, from
674 in the first six months of 2009 to 664 for the same period in 2010.
During the first half of 2010, there was one aggravated assault
resulting in an arrest reported, compared with none by midyear 2009.
Nearly 29 million travelers used LAX through June 30 –– a 4.85%
increase over the same period last year. About 236,000 people pass
through the airport on an average day.
–– Andrew Blankstein