barrykind
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Friends mourn deaths of LAX shooting victims
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Associated Press Jul. 7, 2002
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LOS ANGELES - Friends and relatives gathered on Sunday to mourn the two Israelis killed in the July 4 shooting at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport, which was condemned by some as an act of terrorism.
The FBI says it still doesn't know why Hesham Mohamed Hadayet targeted the ticket area of Israel's national airline, where he gunned down Yaakov Aminov, a 46-year-old diamond jeweler, and Victoria Hen, 25, who worked behind the El Al counter.
Hen's burial was scheduled Sunday in Mission Hills, northwest of Los Angeles.
Aminov's family planned to eulogize him on Sunday before flying his remains to Israel for burial on Monday.
Friends of Aminov - a father of five with another child on the way - said Saturday they considered the killings an act of terrorism. Israeli officials have said the same.
"He died because he was Jewish," said Eli Gabay, 20, an Orthodox Jew who remembered Aminov as a kind, charitable and deeply religious man.
"This is a message to all Jews," Gabay said. "It's a big loss for the community."
Hadayet was the fourth person in line at the El Al counter when he opened fire, killing Aminov and Hen and wounding three others, authorities said. He fired 10 or 11 bullets before he was killed by an El Al security guard.
FBI special agent Richard Garcia said Saturday it still wasn't known if Hadayet harbored anti-Israel feelings, as a former employee claimed he did. Authorities had not ruled out terrorism as a motive, but were considering the possibility that Hadayet was despondent over his personal or business affairs.
Arab Americans in the Los Angeles area have publicly condemned the killings as a crime. The Web site of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee posted a statement denouncing the attack in the "strongest possible terms."
Quietly, however, some Southern California Muslims said they fear the high-profile killing could revive the anti-Arab discrimination felt in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"We hope that people can make the distinction between one crazy person and a whole community of 6 or 7 million people in the United States," said Sabiha Khan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American Islamic Relations in Anaheim.
She praised the FBI for its careful handling of the investigation and said people across the Muslim community were speculating about Hadayet, a limousine driver who immigrated to California from Egypt 10 years ago. He lived in Irvine with his wife, Hala, and their sons Omar, 14, and Adam, 8.
Hadayet wasn't know at the major mosques in the area, according to the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles.
"We are horrified by what happened," Khan said. "We pray for the victims and their families because nobody should ever die like that."
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Posts: 3529 | From: Orange, Texas | Registered: Jun 2002
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