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LAX Shooting Suspect's Former Neighbors 'Shocked' To Learn He Lived In Complex
Roberta Sanchez didn't know how to feel when she discovered the man suspected of going on a deadly shooting spree at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday was once her neighbor.
"I'm shocked," Sanchez, 36, told LAist. "I don't know if I feel safe living here anymore."
Sanchez lives two doors down from where 23-year-old shooting suspect Paul Anthony Ciancia lived earlier this year. She said she often heard Ciancia and his roommate throwing parties and playing music. She said the news makes her feel like she can't trust her neighbors.
"What would have happened if he still lived here?" Sanchez said.
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Ciancia rented out a couch from John Mincey at the Rancho Los Feliz Apartment Homes on Los Feliz Boulevard, where he lived for two weeks, according to apartment management. He moved to Sun Valley in February. It's unclear how long he has lived in Los Angeles or what he did for work.
Mincey said Ciancia never spoke of "any kind of hatred, or any hatred group, or anything like that," according to ABC News.
"I'm absolutely shocked," Mincey told ABC. "I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it because from knowing this guy, it just doesn't make sense."
Ciancia is still in critical condition following a shootout with officers at LAX. One TSA officer was killed and four people were injured in the shooting, which shut down the airport for hours.
In the New Jersey -- where Ciancia is from -- people described him as shy and awkward, but said they never saw signs of anger or violent tendencies, the Los Angeles Times reports.
"He kept to himself and ate lunch alone a lot," David Hamilton, who graduated with Ciancia from Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del., in 2008, told the L.A. Times. "I really don't remember any one person who was close to him .... In four years, I never heard a word out of his mouth."
Law enforcement sources told the Associated Press that along with an assault rifle, Ciancia carried a handwritten note. It ended with the letters "NWO," which law enforcement sources say could stand for "New World Order," according to ABC News.
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Investigators are still trying to determine whether he was a believer in the New World Order conspiracy theory, which claims that forces are trying to create a one-world totalitarian government.
Rancho Los Feliz management said it was unclear that Ciancia lived in the complex, and sent out the following email to apartment residents:
We have learned from the news media that the shooter in the LAX tragedy may have been known by a resident living here at Rancho Los Feliz. Therefore, we apologize for any inconvenience the news vans in front of the community may cause. We have talked with the police department and they have indicated there is no safety issues to be concerned about at this time within our community.
Tarek Karkoutly, 29, was home when police and federal agents roamed the complex on Friday. He said would see Ciancia around the apartment grounds when he was still a resident, often sitting alone outside of the Internet cafe, but never spoke to him. Karkoutly said while he was surprised to learn Ciancia once lived near him, he still feels safe.
"This is the safest place I've lived in L.A.," said Karkoutly, who has lived in the city for 10 years. "It was just a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It could happen to anyone."
The motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
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