TSA agent killed at LAX was shot 12 times, autopsy shows
The Transportation Security Administration agent who was killed at Los Angeles International Airport was shot 12 times, including at least one round that grazed his heart, according to an autopsy released Friday.
Gerardo I. Hernandez, a 39-year-old father of two, died within two to five minutes of being shot, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said earlier this week. He was shot in his arm, torso, waist, hip, back, buttock and groin, the 22-page autopsy report said.
The report described extensive injuries as bullets damaged many of his internal organs, including his heart, lungs and bladder. He suffered 16 wounds to his intestines.
Medical examiners recovered 40 bullet fragments, which were given to the FBI as evidence, the report said.
He was declared dead at 11 a.m. at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, more than 90 minutes after the airport shooting.
Hernandez became the first TSA officer killed in the line of duty when a gunman opened fire at the airport the morning of Nov. 1. Three others were wounded before the suspect — identified as Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23 — was shot in a gun battle with airport police and taken into custody.
Ciancia was released Monday from Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
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