A gunman with a high-powered rifle shot at least three people at Los Angeles International Airport’s Terminal 3 around 9:40am this morning. At least one TSA agent was among those shot.

NBC Los Angeles is reporting that the TSA agent was killed in the shooting and that the shooter was an off-duty TSA employee. The Los Angeles Times reported that the shooter had died, but that has not been confirmed.

A TSA spokesman released a statement confirming the death of one TSA agent: “Earlier this morning, a shooting occurred at Terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport. Multiple Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) were shot, one fatally. Additional details will be addressed by the FBI and local law enforcement who are investigating the shooting.”

According to early reports, multiple people are being treated for gunshot wounds. The Los Angeles Fire Department released a statement saying it was a “multi-patient incident.”

According to Katherine Alvarado, a spokesperson at LAX that Skift spoke to, the shooter was still active in the terminal at 10:11 PST. Airport officials confirmed at 10:51 PST that the shooter was in custody. Los Angeles Police Department and LAX Police held a press conference at 11:50am PST.

Officials would not confirm any details about the shooter or injuries but would confirm that the incident was over and was entirely contained within Terminal 3.

CBS 8 in LA reported that the shooter entered the terminal and purposely targeted TSA employees. Reports say the shooter was a white male in his early 20s with blond hair who was wearing either “workout clothes” or camouflage.

Reuters Latin America reported that three people were dead, but later deleted its tweet.

>>> Related: The TSA Just Set a New Record for Guns Found at Airports

Passengers were evacuated from the terminals onto the tarmac and into a secure part of Terminal 2. Traffic around the airport along Century and Sepulveda Boulevards has been shut down, causing a backup on Los Angeles’ west side. Over 160,000 people transit through LAX every day.

Terminal 3 is home to Allegiant Air, Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit, Virgin America, and Virgin Australia.

The FAA held all inbound flights until 11:00a PDT, but flights in and out of some terminals have resumed. Alaska Air tweeted that “We are returning to normal ops” at Terminal 6. Flights at Terminal 3 are not expected to resume today.

The Los Angeles Times is covering the event on a live blog. The paper also has a map of the incident:

The last shooting at a U.S. airport was on Friday, May 2, at Houston International.

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Jason Clampet, Skift

November 1st, 2013 at 9:51 AM EDT

Tags: lax, security, tsa

Photo credit: Airline passengers are evacuated to the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport. Reuters

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