3rd and new orleans on november 16th. great to see you. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. great pleasure. come back soon, bill. good evening. up next, a violent thunderstorm provides cover for a brutal murder. >> an absolutely brutal crime scene. >> obviously this was a case of an overkill. >> there are plenty of suspects with clear motives, but they all pass polygraph tests. >> it is not 100% reliable. >> if investigators didn't find the one tiny clue left at the scene, they might never have solved it. the real estate development business in texas always seems to be active.

darrell north, a manager for a multibillion dollar development company, had no shortage of work. >> darrell north was in charge of building budget suites for a company out of las vegas, and he had been in charge of building several in this area. >> darrell had a reputation as a fair-minded boss who set high standards. >> i asked a subcontractor, was darrell hard to work for? was he mean? and he said, no. he was not. he said he expected quality work. >> i've seen dad fire numerous subcontractors over the years. my dad had the ability to get his point across very clearly. he was very pointed. he was very direct. >> darrell was always punctual. so when he didn't come home from work one day, and didn't answer his phone, his family was concerned. >> when i got to the job site,

it was after 11:00 at night. the lights of his trailer were on. and his car was out front, and i knew his car hadn't been moved because it was dry underneath his vehicle when everything else was. just drenched.

sources say he had three magazines of am nation for his assault rifle.

the shooting happened hours ago but there was a page he had up on facebook but that was taken down within an hour of the shooting. his sister to it down her facebook page. we don't know all about this young man viewers 23 years old, had gone to los angeles, don't know how long he had been there. he seemed quite unhappy. he was shot multiple times in the chest and he was taken to the ronald reagan ucla hospital and he is described in critical condition. >> appreciate the update air travel resumed and is there a backlog from the flights? >> yes, if you think about what the stoppage looked like here it was 5.5 hours were nothing was taking off, landing, with the

exception of some airplanes that were above los angeles. 76,000 passengers that simply have their air travel disappear. they are here at the airport trying to figure out how to get in or out and then you have the passengers who are normally traveling. there is a backlog and the huge mass in los angeles tonight. >> our people handling the delay. >> it is a bit of a mixed bag. people inside were civil while this was unfolding. they're trying to be collaborative, or trying to remember this is a very serious incident that resulted in all of these delays. but at the same time, as people are coming off the planes, and some of these passengers have been stuck on planes 5 1/2 hours, they're incredibly frustrated because they didn't get any information from the airlines and they said it was quite frightening just having that information. >> kyung, appreciate it. our next guest came face-to-face with the gunman who asked what literally became a life or death question. we spoke earlier tonight by phone. >> lee leon, the shooter walked up to you.

take us what happened. >> i had just gotten through the security gates with the x-ray machines. i had my shoes and belt off. as i was walking through there i heard shots. ways just getting ready to pick up my shoes and belt and go on my way, pick up my other stuff. at that point we heard some shots, some more shots. so everybody kind of hit the ground then people started to run. >> did you know instantly it was shots? >> i didn't know what was happening and i didn't turn around to look. the shots were coming from behind me. and the tsa agent that was near me urged me to grab my stuff and go. he saw that i didn't have my shoes on. so he grabbed the shoes, and the two of us started running down the corridor towards the gate. meanwhile, more shots rang out. and this agent got hit. i think it was a grazing wound.

because he seemed to be okay. he had my shoes. i went and kind of cowered in a corner. and the shooter was just calmly walking down the corridor. he saw me cowering there. he had his gun and he looked at me and he said, tsa? and i just shook my head. he kept going. >> how did he seem to you? what did he look like? what was his expression? >> he didn't act like -- you know it was kind of hard to seat expression. i was more focused on his weapon. it was a rifle, looked like an assault rifle. not sure what kind it would have been. but he was dressed normally. he had short hair, a light complexion. just maybe blue jeans or gray jacket or something like that. >> and when he asked you when he said tsa, did you realize what

he meant? did you realize that -- >> absolutely. if i had a tsa uniform i wouldn't be here talking to you. >> you have no doubt about that. >> i'm convinced. >> well, it's so hard to believe. leon, i'm so glad things are okay for you. and i appreciate you taking the time to talk to us, thank you. >> thank you very much for calling. >> imagine that feeling coming face-to-face with a gunman. you can follow me on twitter tonight @andersoncooper, use #ac 360later. we'll continue to cover the shooting and the aftermath. we'll be right back. i gotta go deposit a check, transfer some money. so it's your uncle's turn. what? wait, wait, wait... no, no, no, wait, wait.

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one of the nation's busiest airports. this morning terminal 3 was packed with passengers. tom lagos and his wife waiting at the airplane. both saw the gunman and described the mayhem and pandemonium. i spoke with both of them. tom was on the phone. >> vernon, i understand you were sitting at your gate when everything became chaotic. tell me what happened. >> we were all sitting there. our flight was delayed. and out of the blue you hear all this motion going on. and before y can you hear the commotion, you see people running, mad dashing towards us. and we happened to be at the end of the terminal where there's no real exit. it was a dead end. >> and i understand you actually saw the shooter. how did that happen? >> well, after the terminal cleared, because everybody ran

to the end of the terminal, and once we started hearing pops, gun shots, somebody brave enough opened the door to exit and run out onto the tarmac. so once that happened, the terminal emptied out pretty quick. and i didn't really want it least terminal because my bag was across on the other side of the gate. and i wanted to stay in view of it. so i stayed by the emergency exit but didn't leave yet. and then it was like me and another guy in a blue shirt. and that's when the shooter like walked out from behind a wall. >> how did he seem to you? what did he look like? >> he sort of seemed like confused, like dazed, like walking around. he had a gun in his hand or the rifle in his hand. and at first i didn't see it because he just briefly appeared

before he went behind like an advertising board. and then once he came out from behind the board, then i recognized it was a rifle. >> and was he saying anything? you said he seemed confused. was that the expressing he had on his face? >> yeah, well, he was just like roaming around like with no place to go. i mean, he literally did a couple of circles and then walked off. and then once he turned around and sort of looked in our direction, me and this other gentleman, we were already by the exit so we were just waiting to run out. but he looked toward our way, he didn't raise a gun or anything. but it scared us enough that we just ran out. >> and tom, i understand you saw the shooter as well. you went back for your wife's purse. is that when you saw him walking around? >> yeah, yeah. he may be describing me for all i know. i just heard his story.

if you can imagine right before this happened i'm walking back from starbucks to bring her a cup of coffee. you see this wave of 1500 people or so running towards you. and there was a lot of confusion as to what we were running for. i didn't hear a noise or anything. and people just started reacting and hitting the floor. and then like he said, somebody opened the door to the tarmac. everybody went running out. i ran out as well. and my wife said hey could you go get my bag. and again i went back in. and that's when i saw him walking around. and just like he was describing, very methodical. just sort of not really in a hurry. very calm, collected, just kind of slowly looking around. but definitely with his gun pointed out, wearing very baggy clothes, tall, slender white man. >> tall, slender. so he wasn't particularly like a big guy. >> no. not a big guy.

tall, slender, looked young. then again just baggy clothes and the gun was unmistakeable. >> were both of you interviewed by police? >> no, i wasn't. it was a mad, chaotic scene around the police. so i sort of avoided that. hoping that i'd do it later. but as soon as they heard a few stories. >> yeah, no, i just got done being interviewed for about 30 minutes by the police. after this all happened they bussed everybody to another terminal. there was about a three-hour wait before police came and said hey did anybody see anything. i raised my hand. there were about 50 of us. we just got done with interviews right now. i think they're just about to let us go. >> well, i know it's been an incredibly long, difficult day for you, vernon and tom, thanks for take the time to talk. thanks. >> absolutely.

up next tonight why today's killing marks a sad milestone for the tsa. also investigating any political and global connections. we'll check in with our national security correspondent. [ male announcer ] at humana, understanding what makes you different

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international terrorist group? i've heard of none at this point. >> reporter: i have been in touch with the national counterterrorism center. they see no indication of ties to international terrorism. they're not ruling out domestic terrorism. they don't see any cases of that, either. i suppose it's how you define it. he was targeting tsa agents. he had anti-government literature on his person. he shut down an airport. you could call that a form of terrorism but they're not calling it that at this point. >> there's still a lot we don't know and a lot still being investigated, but does it seem like the tsa was prepared to handle a situation like this? >> reporter: it's interesting. the airport security just three weeks before did an active shooter training event for l.a.x. they took over a whole unoccupied terminal at a nearby airport, put 300 officers through an event just like this one. many of those who took part today say that training like that made a real difference for

how they responded. tsa agents are not armed. they prefer to leave the shooting they say the head of their union says to the many armed guards that are in that airport. there are more than 2,000 tsa officers, more than 1,000 l.a. airport police many armed. air marshalls. a lot of and officers in l.a.x. the tsa officers have not asked to be armed but they are the frontline of defense. we saw that today. they were the first ones to face this threat. one of them lost his life for it. >> jim, appreciate the update. thanks. for more on the bigger picture i spoke earlier with tom ridge. during the bush administration he was the nation's first secretary of homeland security. >> mr. secretary, appreciate you joining us. as we said this was the first time a tsa employee has been killed in the line of duty since the organization was established during a time in the bush administration. what do you make of what happened today at l.a.x.? what are the main sort of points you're looking at or interested in finding out more details on? >> well first of all i think you're right. there's still more details to be determined.

let's be very clear. i think all the other guests have spoken to this. the possibility of an individual coming into a terminal with a hidden firearm is real. and it's something that they're going to have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. there are 1.8 million passengers a day that go through over 450 airports. and so this is a real challenge that as i think tom pointed out, as horrible as the tragedy was the resiliency and the response mechanisms built in because of preparation and training is something to be lauded. not to take away from the pain and suffering of the family of the deceased. we have several victims. but at the end of the day there's certain kinds of risks for which there is really no sensible, thoughtful, reasonable, economically appropriate way to abandon or to eradicate. this happens to be one of them at airports. >> i mean, it's already illegal to bring a weapon into an airport. so it's not like you can pass

another law saying we'll make it even more illegal to do that. for those who think well tsa agents maybe they should be armed. what do you think? >> i think it's a big mistake. you have literally hundreds and hundreds of and police officers roaming every major airport in america. and i don't think arming another 40 or 50 or 60,000 people -- not sure how many employees there are -- would have prevented this incident from happening. when the individual removed the firearm, began firing, the response mechanism kicked in. so i personally think that's a very bad idea. this is awn speakable tragedy, anderson. and i know we're going to be questioning the motives of this particular individual. but the end of the day, anderson, if you and i did this show a week from now, there would probably be 3 or 400 other people dying because of firearms homicides. and we're not quite sure what their motives are going to be. but this once again speaks to an eruption of interest because of

this horrible incident in a public place and a federal employee that between now and monday there'll be 50 or 60 people that will never be reported about, there'll be no public discussion. it will either be a gang war over turf, it will be drugs, it will be someone with a severe mental challenge that got access to a firearm. and hopefully one of these days you and other folks will make this conversation a permanent part of civil dialogue. we just have to get about doing it. it's not a news cycle or two and we need to do a lot deeper dive into this. and i'm glad you raised the issue, but again, it's a cultural violence. there are many aspects to it. this is just one more horrible incident. not to take away from the tragedy. it's unspeakable. and there's a lot of pain and suffering. but we really have to start thinking a lot deeper and doing a lot more than simply talking about the violence of firearms. >> and the indication that this person was specifically asking people whether they were with the t sa. >> interesting.

>> does that surprise you? >> well, it's bizarre. listen, you and i both know -- let's go back to timothy mcvay, anderson. we know there are some people who have turned to violence. god forbid just awful violence. you go look at oklahoma city because of grudges or hatred or whatever the evil, the dark side, the emotion in their heart and their head, and that's the excuse and that's the motive. but then again, i think in 2010 there were like 12,000 firearm homicides and the motives were all over the place. so i think we have to be very careful not to just categorize and suggest that this is the only motive we ought to be worried about. i think there are broader issues that have to be discussed here. but clearly if he had a grievance against the government for whatever reason we're going to find out a lot more about it. but notwithstanding that, they may have been his motive but i'm not sure you could have done anything to prevent this particular incident from happening.

>> tom ridge, appreciate your time tonight. thank you. >> always good talking with you, anderson. a short time ago the police chief in pennsville, new jersey spoke out his father's home. he said when the father received these text messages that was the first inkling they had of trouble. he said until then they had no idea anything was wrong or might have been leading up to what happened today. the family said they did not know he owned a firearm of any type. that's the latest information we have. that does it for this edition of "ac 360 later." thanks for watching. "unguarded with rachel nichols" starts now. hi. i'm rachel nichols. welcome to "unguarded" a sports show that brings you the candid human side of some of the world's most talented human beings and explores the issues that extend off the field to