L.A. Now Live: Latest on ex-TSA worker held in threats against LAX

Join us at 9 a.m. when we talk with Times reporter Ruben Vives about a the frantic search and arrest of an Inglewood man who allegedly made threats on the 12th anniversary of 9/11.

The former Transportation Security Administration employee was charged Wednesday after he allegedly made a series of threats against Los Angeles International Airport, leading multiple law enforcement agencies on a daylong search across Southern California.

The search for Nna Alpha Onuoha, 29, unfolded Tuesday, hours after the disgruntled employee resigned his position as a TSA screener, officials said.

Throughout the day and into Wednesday, authorities tracked several threatening phone calls, suspicious packages and rambling letters, including one ominous, handwritten message found in his Inglewood closet: “09/11/2013 THERE WILL BE FIRE! FEAR! FEAR! FEAR!”

According to the federal affidavit, Onuoha resigned about 9 a.m. Tuesday.

About four hours later, he left a package containing an eight-page letter of his complaints over the June incident and made three calls to airport officials, warning that the “TSA was running out of time.” The “entire airport” should be evacuated immediately, he reportedly said.

Authorities raced to his Inglewood apartment, hoping to find him. But he was gone — along with all his belongings. The only thing left was the handwritten 9/11 threat in his closet.

When Onuoha was eventually arrested, he told authorities that his intentions weren’t a call to violence, according to the affidavit. Instead, he said, he planned to start “preaching in the streets.”

Authorities said they didn’t find weapons or explosives at the properties they searched. But they did remove a 4-foot-long red cross that Onuoha left at the church, with a painted message: “Rejoice King Jesus Is Near. His Army Are Coming.”

On Wednesday, Onuoha was in federal custody on two felony charges. He faces a 15-year prison sentence if he is convicted.