Man Fires Shotgun in Airport; 2 Injured

KENNER, La. — A man wounded two people with a shotgun at the New Orleans airport Wednesday, telling investigators that he fired because people made fun of his turban.

“That’s his story. We don’t know what really happened,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee said.

The shotgun blast wounded an airline customer in the stomach and an airline employee in the hand, the sheriff said. The gunman was tackled by bystanders in the ticket lobby of Louis Armstrong International Airport.

The shooting occurred away from concourses where security screeners check for weapons. Flights continued amid delays. Lee identified the suspect as Patrick Gott, 43, of Pensacola, Fla. He said Gott was carrying a Koran and invoked the name of Allah.

The sheriff said Gott told deputies he was in the terminal when people began making fun of his turban. He told investigators that he left the terminal, retrieved a shotgun from his car, went back inside and fired, Lee said.

The sheriff said the wounded customer was hospitalized in guarded condition. A sheriff’s spokesman said the suspect and his mother were at the airport to drop off a passenger.