Federal Grand Jury Indicts LAX Shooting Suspect On 11 Counts, Including Murder

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A federal grand jury returned an 11-count indictment Tuesday charging LAX shooting suspect Paul Anthony Ciancia with first-degree murder in the death of a Transportation Security Administration officer.

Ciancia, 23, was charged with murdering Gerardo Hernandez and the attempted murder of fellow TSA Officers Tony Leroy Grigsby and James Maurice Speer, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The indictment includes allegations that Ciancia used a Smith & Wesson 5.56-millimeter M&P15 semiautomatic rifle to shoot at the three officers, used the rifle to commit acts of violence against persons at an international airport and knowingly used a firearm to murder and cause death, U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Thom Mrozek said.

Ciancia, who lived in Sun Valley at the time of the shooting, is suspected of entering Terminal 3 at LAX at 9:20 a.m. on Nov. 1 and opening fire on the people inside the terminal, apparently targeting TSA employees.

Besides the TSA officers, gunfire also struck a civilian – Brian Donovan Ludmer, a performing arts teacher at Calabasas High School.

Ciancia is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment on Dec. 26. Three of the charges Ciancia faces in the indictment carry possible sentences of life in federal prison or the death penalty.

The government has not made a decision on whether to seek the death penalty for Ciancia.