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LAX shooting: Coroner says slain TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez was shot 12 times
Friends and co-workers of TSA officer Gerardo Hernandez made blue-ribbon pins to wear to the memorial in honor of their colleague, the first TSA officer to die in the line of duty.
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Erika Aguilar/KPCC
)
Friends and co-workers of TSA officer Gerardo Hernandez made blue-ribbon pins to wear to the memorial in honor of their colleague, the first TSA officer to die in the line of duty.
(
Erika Aguilar/KPCC
)
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LAX shooting: Coroner says slain TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez was shot 12 times
The Transportation Security Administration officer killed during a shooting at Los Angeles International Airport was shot 12 times, causing extensive organ damage, according to an autopsy done by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.
Paul Ciancia has been charged with murder in relation to the shooting. He is accused of firing an assault rifle inside Terminal 3 at LAX on Nov. 1, wounding three people and fatally shooting TSA officer Gerardo Hernandez, 39.
RELATED: KPCC coverage of the shooting at LAX
The autopsy revealed Hernandez was shot a dozen times, with one bullet grazing the left side of his heart and others damaging his lower torso. Coroner investigators found 40 bullet fragments in his body.
His death was ruled a homicide due to multiple gunshot wounds. The examination found that the fatal injuries were “consistent with a high powered rifle.”
Hernandez suffered several wounds to the lower-torso and hip area, critically damaging the main artery in the abdomen. His spinal column, the intestinal tract and a kidney were also damaged. Bullets and bullet fragments also grazed the liver, bladder, heart and lungs.
The report states he arrived at the hospital in full cardiac arrest and, “despite life-saving efforts,” doctors could not revive him. He was declared deceased at about 11 a.m. — 90 minutes after the shooting.
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Coroner officials also determined he died about two to five minutes after being shot.
FBI investigators previously said that surveillance video shows the gunman shooting Hernandez before climbing up the escalator and then returning to fire more rounds at the TSA officer when he saw Hernandez still moving on the floor.
Besides murder, Ciancia, 23, has been charged with committing an act of violence in an airport. He was shot by officers and hospitalized for nearly three weeks before being taken into federal custody. He has not yet appeared in court to enter a plea.
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