LOS ANGELES (AP) – The gunman who killed a federal security officer and wounded three other people during a rampage at Los Angeles International Airport has shown no remorse and clings to the beliefs that led to the violence in 2013, prosecutors said in advance of his sentencing Monday.
Paul Ciancia, 26, faces a mandatory life sentence in federal prison for the attack that crippled the nation’s second-busiest airport and disrupted air travel nationwide.
Ciancia “plotted to commit mass murder at one of the nation’s foremost transportation hubs, murdered a beloved public servant in cold blood, seriously injured two other federal officers whom he shot and was attempting to kill, shot and injured a passenger who was traveling to attend a wedding, and terrified hundreds of other passengers and employees at Los Angeles International Airport who feared for their lives and the safety of their families,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald wrote in sentencing papers.
Fitzgerald is asking that Ciancia be sentenced to an additional 60 years even though it would have no practical impact on his term. He also asked that the court not recommend that Ciancia, who has a combination of mental disorders and has been suicidal in the past, be sent to a federal medical facility instead of prison.
The probation office made that recommendation in a sealed presentencing report the prosecutor referenced, but Fitzgerald said it would be inappropriate given Ciancia’s crimes and the threat he poses to federal employees. That determination should be made by the federal Bureau of Prisons, he said.