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Shooting At Bush Intercontinental Airport Involving AR-15, Gunman Killed
 
By Jim Douglas
 

May 2, 2013 - About 1:35 PM on Thursday, passengers in Terminal B at Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) encountered a gunman who had apparently committed suicide by a self inflicted gunshot to the head. Passengers throughout the terminal scrambled fearing it was a terrorist attack. 

The lone gunman who has been identified as 29 year old Carnell Marcus Moore was transported to an area hospital. There are no reports of injuries to any of the passengers nor other persons involved. Terminal B was quickly shut down to passengers and to aircraft, and rerouted to Terminals A, C, D and E. 

It has been reported that the gunman first shot into the ceiling near the ticket counter. When confronted by Homeland Security the gunman reportedly shot himself in the head. He died at an area hospital. 

At 4:24 PM, Terminal B was reopened for departing passengers that had already been screened by TSA. Terminal B ticketing lobby and TSA security checkpoint remained closed.

By 5:12 PM Terminal B was reopened for arriving flights, the U-ramp and lobby were opened to the public but TSA security checkpoint and ticketing counters remained closed. United Airlines passengers are being advised to check-in at either Terminals C or E and proceed through to the TSA checkpoint for screening. 

Houston Police Department (HPD) spokesperson, Kese Smith told reporters that the HPD received a call at 1:35 PM which indicated that there had been a discharge of a firearm and shots came from the ticket counter area in Terminal B at Bush Intercontinental Airport. He further stated the gun man had just entered Terminal B when he fired at least two shots into the ceiling. 

 

A TSA agent who was sitting in a nearby office heard the gun shoots. He went out into the terminal area, told everyone to get down and told the gunman to drop his weapon but the gunman refused. The agent then shot one time at the suspect at which time the gunman turned what has been called a military style semiautomatic rifle (AR-15) onto himself, passenger’s took off running. It has been reported a suicide note had been found in the gunman’s backpack.

 

 

The suicide note stated he was having trouble controlling the "monster inside." Moore wrote of death on his Facebook page earlier Thursday “45 minutes and 59 seconds in God's Shadow and Time Stops”. Days prior he wrote “I recently had the chance of staring death in the face, and she was beautiful” and “This Life Will Crash Tomorrow!”

The AR-15 is a lightweight, 5.56 mm, magazine fed, semi-automatic rifle. The AR-15 is a semi-automatic version of the automatic M16 rifle used by the United States military. The semi-automatic AR-15s for sale to civilians are internally different from the full automatic M16, although nearly identical in external appearance. The AR-15 can hold a 100 round magazine.

On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, 20, fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members in a mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the village of Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut. Before driving to the school, Lanza had shot and killed his mother Nancy at their Newtown home. As first responders arrived, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. 

The shooting sparked a need for real gun legislation in this country. As a result a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate, (Sponsor - Senator Joe Manchin) S.649. The Amendment was to ensure that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and provide a responsible and consistent background check process. On April 17, 2013, the U.S. Senate took a vote on S.649, the amendment failed 54 to 46, falling short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster. Shouts of "Shame on you” was echoed in the senate camber, a bill that had a 90 percent approval by the American voter. 

Senetor Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) reported that some senate members of his party opposed expanding background checks for gun sales because they didn't want to "be seen helping the president." Toomey said "in the end it didn’t pass because we're so politicized. There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it."

The Vote Grouped By Vote Position

YEAs ---54              
                   
Baldwin (D-WI)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Collins (R-ME)
Coons (D-DE)
Cowan (D-MA)
Donnelly (D-IN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Hirono (D-HI)
  Johnson (D-SD)
Kaine (D-VA)
King (I-ME)
Kirk (R-IL)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Manchin (D-WV)
McCain (R-AZ)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
  Mikulski (D-MD)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Reed (D-RI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Warner (D-VA)
Warren (D-MA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Toomey (R-PA)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)

                   
NAYs ---46
                   
Alexander (R-TN)
Ayotte (R-NH)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Begich (D-AK)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coats (R-IN)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
Cruz (R-TX)
Enzi (R-WY)
Fischer (R-NE)
  Flake (R-AZ)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Heller (R-NV)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (R-WI)
Lee (R-UT)
  McConnell (R-KY)
Moran (R-KS)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Paul (R-KY)
Portman (R-OH)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reid (D-NV)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rubio (R-FL)
Scott (R-SC)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

 
 
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