PENNSVILLE TOWNSHIP, N.J. — People who knew Paul Anthony Ciancia struggled to reconcile the quiet teenager who by some accounts was bullied in high school with the man who allegedly targeted Transportation Security Administration workers during a fatal shooting rampage at LAX. 
 
 In this suburban Philadelphia neighborhood, people described him as shy and a little awkward but said they never saw signs of anger or violent tendencies. 
 
 "He kept to himself and ate lunch alone a lot," said David Hamilton, who graduated with Ciancia from Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del., in 2008. "I really don't remember any one person who was close to him.... In four years, I never heard a word out of his mouth." 
 
 Hamilton, an editorial assistant at a publishing firm in Philadelphia, said he recalled Ciancia being the victim of bullying, but did not remember any particular incidents. 
 
 "He was quiet and people would take advantage of that," he said. 
 
 Police say that Ciancia, 23, went to LAX on Friday morning, pulled a rifle out of a bag and began shooting at TSA agents, killing a 39-year-old screener, identified as Gerardo I. Hernandez, the first TSA officer killed in the line of duty. 
 
 A law enforcement official told The Times that a note was found on the gunman expressing "disappointment in the government" and saying that he had no interest in hurting "innocent people." 
 
 Several witnesses said he appeared to shoot only at TSA agents and avoided shooting passengers. Ciancia was wounded by police. His condition was not released. 
 
 Another law enforcement source said the note contained the letters "NWO." Investigators are trying to determine whether he was a believer in the New World Order, a conspiracy theory which holds that forces are trying to create a single totalitarian government on Earth. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, emphasized that it is still early in the investigation and that detectives are not sure what role, if any, "NWO" played in the case. 
 
 Law enforcement sources say that Ciancia's family called police here after a relative received a text message that led the family to believe he might be suicidal. Authorities in New Jersey contacted the Los Angeles Police Department for a welfare check. 
 
 Ciancia lived in an apartment complex on Los Feliz Boulevard in Atwater Village. It's unclear how long he had lived in Los Angeles or what he did for a living. 
 
 Marc Kreiner, who owns The Morrison, a restaurant and bar next door to the apartment complex, said he knew Ciancia by sight. He had been into the bar about half a dozen times, he said. 
 
 "He was kind of a quiet guy, came in mostly by himself, and one time with a couple of guys," Kreiner said. 
 
 One resident of the apartment complex said a large group of police officers detained or arrested a man at the location earlier in the day. It's unclear if that was related to the shooting case. 
 
 People who knew Ciancia said they were shocked that he was accused of being the gunman in the LAX attack. 
 
 Former classmate Jeff Skidmore said he attended first-period band class with Ciancia, who he thought played French horn. He said Ciancia wore black on "dress down" days when students were not required to wear uniforms, and he seemed to have a speech impediment. He said Ciancia did not seem to like being called on to read aloud in class as a result. 
 
 He said that he never saw Ciancia being bullied, but that he was very solitary. 
 
 "We left him alone," Skidmore said. 
 
 School officials confirmed that Ciancia graduated from the high school in 2008. 
 
 Ciancia grew up in on a wooded street in Pennsville Township, about a mile from his father's prospering auto body shop. His father was an associate member of the Fraternal Order of Police and a supporter of local Little League teams. 
 
 Neighbors said they would see Ciancia and his brother riding four-wheeled vehicles up and down their long driveway. But tragedy struck the family a few years ago, neighbors said, when Ciancia's mother died after a long illness. 
 
 "This is an absolute tragedy, in the highest sense" said Orlando Pagan, a police officer in neighboring Penns Grove. "It was a very good family. Whatever happened, it had nothing to do with their upbringing." 
 
 "When I heard, I just got this feeling in the pit of my stomach," added Gary Hankins, who lives a few doors away. "My heart goes out not only to Paul but to the people who were hurt in L.A. It just ripples down for all these families." 
 
 joe tanfani@latimes.com abby.sewell@latimes.comscott.glover@latimes.com 
 
 Tanfani reported from New Jersey, Sewell and Glover from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Lisa Girion, Matt Stevens and Richard Winton contributed to this report. 

 A man toting a semi-automatic rifle, some 150 rounds of ammunition and a grudge against federal security workers shot his way past a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport in a deadly rampage that sent hundreds of travelers fleeing in terror. 
 
 This photo provided by the FBI shows Paul Ciancia, 23. Authorities say Ciancia pulled a semi-automatic rifle from a bag and shot his way past a security checkpoint at the airport, killing a security officer... (Associated Press) 
 
 Passengers arrive on foot as a jetliner lands in Terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. A man pulled a semi-automatic rifle from a bag and shot his way past a security checkpoint... (Associated Press) 
 
 Two Transportation Security Administration agents walk with others after Terminal 2 was reopened at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 1, 2013. A gunman armed with a semi-automatic rifle opened... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this video frame grab provided by KTTV Los Angeles, emergency workers prepare to transfer a wounded Transportation Security Administration officer to a waiting ambulance after a shooting in Terminal... (Associated Press) 
 
 Graphic locates LAX airport and terminal three where a shooting has injured multiple people and killed a TSA agent; 3c x 4 1/2 inches; 146 mm x 114 mm; (Associated Press) 
 
 Fire, rescue and police personnel gather at the Los Angeles International Airport on Friday Nov.1, 2013. Shots were fired Friday at Los Angeles International Airport, prompting authorities to evacuate... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police stand guard in Terminal 2 at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. A gunman armed with a semi-automatic rifle opened fire at the airport on Friday, killing a Transportation... (Associated Press) 
 
 An arrivals monitor at Phoenix International Airport shows flights scheduled to arrive from Los Angeles International Airport, from a variety of airline carriers, as "canceled" on Friday, Nov. 1, 2013,... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo provided to the AP, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, police officers stand near an unidentified weapon in Terminal 3 of the Los Angeles International... (Associated Press) 
 
 Passengers are directed outside Terminal 2 at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday Nov. 1, 2013, after shots were fired, prompting authorities to evacuate a terminal and stop flights headed for... (Associated Press) 
 
 This photo provided by the FBI shows Paul Ciancia, 23. Ciancia carrying a note that said he wanted to "kill TSA" pulled a semi-automatic rifle from a bag and shot his way past a security checkpoint at... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo provided by Tory Belleci which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, people wait in Los Angeles International Airport, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Shots were fired... (Associated Press) 
 
 When the shooting stopped, a Transportation Security Administration officer was dead. Gerardo I. Hernandez, 39, became the first TSA officer in the agency's 12-year history to be killed in the line of duty. The agency was founded in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 
 
 Five other people were hurt, including two other TSA employees and the gunman, identified as Paul Ciancia, 23, of Pennsville, New Jersey. He was shot four times, including in a mouth and leg, by airport police and remained hospitalized but there was no word on his condition. 
 
 Ciancia apparently had been living in Los Angeles for about 1 1/2 years, authorities said. 
 
 An estimated 1,550 scheduled arriving and departing flights with around 167,000 passengers were affected, according to the airport. That included 86 arriving flights that were diverted to other airports. 
 
 As gunshots rang out in Terminal 3 on Friday morning, swarms of passengers screamed, dropped to the ground or ran for their lives. 
 
 Leon Saryan, 65, had just passed through security and was looking for a place to put his shoes and belt back on when he heard gunshots. He fled with a TSA worker, who he said was later wounded slightly, and managed to hide in a store. As he was cowering in the corner, the shooter approached. 
 
 "He looked at me and asked, `TSA?' I shook my head no, and he continued on down toward the gate. He had his gun at the ready and but for the grace of God I am here to tell about it," said Saryan, of Milwaukee. 
 
 As Saryan was fleeing for his life, others were hiding behind ticket counters and under tables. 
 
 "I really thought I saw death," said Anne Rainer, who witnessed the gunfire with her 26-year-old son Ben. The pair were about to leave for New York so her son could see a specialist for a rare genetic condition he has. 
 
 They took refuge behind a ticket counter where she said people prayed, cried and held hands. She watched as one person jumped from a second-floor balcony to get away from the gunman. 
 
 "Adrenaline went through my head, my body went numb, and I said, `If I have to go, it's OK because I'm not going to feel it, but I have to save him,'" Rainer said. 
 
 Others fled into the terminal, taking refuge in coffee shops and lounges as the gunman shot his way toward them. However, some witnesses and authorities said the gunman ignored anyone except TSA targets. 
 
 A law enforcement official said the gunman was dressed in fatigues and carried at least five full 30-round magazines of ammunition. In his bag he had a one-page, handwritten note that said he wanted to kill TSA employees and "pigs." 
 
 The official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the note referred to how the gunman believed his constitutional rights were being violated by TSA searches and that he was a "pissed-off patriot" upset at former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. 
 
 On Friday, Ciancia's father in New Jersey had called authorities for help in finding his son after the young man sent one of his siblings a text message about committing suicide, Pennsville Police Chief Allen Cummings said. 
 
 The chief said he called Los Angeles police, who sent a patrol car to Ciancia's apartment. There, two roommates said that they had seen him a day earlier and he had appeared to be fine. 
 
 Cummings said that the Ciancias _ owners of an auto body shop _ are a "good family" and that his department had had no dealings with the son. 
 
 The attack at the nation's third-busiest airport _ which is a major gateway for flights to Asia, Australia and New Zealand _ began around 9:20 a.m. when the gunman pulled the assault-style rifle from a bag he had carried into the terminal, which serves such airlines as Virgin America, AirTran, Horizon Air and JetBlue. 
 
 Airport police were running after the gunman within seconds of the first shots being fired, Chief of Airport Police Patrick Gannon said. 
 
 Hernandez, the officer who was killed, was one of the TSA's behavioral detection officers who are stationed throughout the airport looking for suspicious behavior, said J. David Cox Sr., national president of the American Federation of Government Employees. 
 
 Friends and neighbors remembered Hernandez as a doting father of two and a good neighbor went door-to-door warning neighbors to be careful after his home in the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles was burglarized. 
 
 President Barack Obama called the head of the Transportation Security Administration to express his condolences to the families and friends of the dead and injured TSA officers. 
 
 In all, five people were taken to hospitals. They included Hernandez, Ciancia, the two wounded TSA officers, and a person who suffered a broken ankle during the chaos. A sixth person was treated at the scene for ringing in the ears from gunfire, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. 
 
 Among the people evacuated from the airport, more than dozen were treated for minor injuries such as twisted ankles, exhaustion or stress. 
 
 It was not the first shooting at LAX. On July 4, 2002, a limousine driver opened fire at the airport's El Al ticket counter, killing an airline employee and a person who was dropping off a friend at the terminal. Police killed the man. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Joan Lowy and Alicia Caldwell in Washington; Greg Risling, Christopher Weber, Alicia Chang, Alicia Rancilio, Gillian Flaccus and Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles; Josh Hoffner in Phoenix; and Michael Rubinkam in Pennsylvania contributed to this report. 

 Dressed for combat and carrying a note saying he wanted to “kill TSA and pigs,” a gunman who grew up in New Jersey opened fire at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, killing one Transportation Security Administration officer and injuring two other people, officials said. 
 
 The terror in Terminal 3 claimed the life of the first TSA officer killed in the line of duty in the agency’s 12-year history and left the gunman, who authorities identified as 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia, wounded in a shootout with police. 
 
 A coast away, Ciancia’s relatives in the Salem County community of Pennsville — about 15 miles from Wilmington, Del. — frantically tried to alert police he may be suicidal, based on a text message he sent his brother. 
 
 But he was away from his Los Angeles apartment when police arrived, and the shooting at one of America’s largest and most famous airports — commonly referred to as LAX — set off a stampede of people who ignored an officer’s shouts of: “Everybody on the floor! On the floor now!” Some people were injured in the mayhem, authorities said. 
 
 The Los Angeles Times reported Ciancia asked people whether they worked for the TSA before deciding whether to shoot them or let them walk. 
 
 A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly, told the Associated Press Ciancia was carrying a handwritten note that said he wanted to kill TSA employees and “pigs.” 
 
 The official said the rant refers to how Ciancia believed his constitutional rights were being violated by TSA searches and that he’s a “pissed-off patriot” upset at former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The note and the gunman’s rifle each had an orange TSA inspection sticker on it. 
 
 The reverberations were felt in New Jersey, where the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Newark Liberty International Airport as well as LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports, increased patrols. 
 
 “Safety and security of our facilities and the millions of people we serve daily are always of the utmost concern, and our police and staff remain vigilant against any possible threats,” Port Authority Chief Security Officer Joseph Dunne said. 
 
 The chaos began shortly before 9:30 a.m. Pacific time — 12:30 p.m. in New Jersey — when Ciancia entered the airport, pulled a semi-automatic rifle from a bag and opened fire at a security checkpoint, authorities said. 
 
 “This morning, a gunman opened fire in LAX’s Terminal 3, killing a TSA agent — the first to die in the line of duty — and shooting two other people, at least one of which was a TSA agent,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a late afternoon news conference. “Additional individuals have had minor injuries and have been treated. Airport police officers engaged the suspect, opened fire, wounded him and took him into custody.” Ciancia’s condition was not released. 
 
 In a statement Friday night, the TSA identified the dead officer as 39-year-old Gerardo I. Hernandez. 
 
 In addition to Hernandez and two other people who were shot, “there are additional injuries, some of which seem to be potential evasion injuries — where they may have injured themselves trying to get away,” David Bowdich, special agent in charge of the counterterrorism division at FBI Los Angeles, said at the same news conference. 
 
 Of Ciancia, Bowdich said, “We are currently investigating his background and more about him.” 
 
 Between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. California time, 746 flights were affected — 46 were diverted to other local airports and the rest were either held on the ground at LAX or at their originating airport, said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX. 
 
 “This has been a trying day for everyone,” she said, as forensics teams from the FBI and Los Angeles Police Department continued their long, methodical work. 
 
 Celebrities and regular folk alike were held up in the delays during peak traveling hours. 
 
 “Currently waiting on the plane in a remote parking area. I am safe. Praying for the victims of this shooting,” tweeted Jersey native Nick Jonas, of the Jonas Brothers pop band. 
 
 Actor and director James Franco was more blunt, tweeting, complete with asterisks, “At #lax Some (expletive) shot up the place.” 
 
 Meanwhile, local and federal authorities arrived at the Ciancia home in Pennsville Friday night, and were meeting with family members inside, according to the South Jersey Times, a sister publication to The Star-Ledger. Pennsville is a community of about 13,000 not far from the Delaware Memorial Bridge. 
 
 Police vehicles blocked the long driveway leading to the home, which sits far back off the road in a wooded area. 
 
 Neighbors were shocked by the news. 
 
 “I talked to him here and there. He seemed very sociable, just a normal guy,” Joshua Pagan, 17, who lives across the street from the Ciancia home, told the South Jersey Times. “When we were younger, we both had braces, so I would see him at (orthodontist) appointments. Never once did I see anything off about him. When I first found out, it was almost like — it can’t be him.” 
 
 Pennsville Police Chief Allen Cummings said Ciancia’s father, also named Paul, called him early Friday afternoon about a disturbing text message Ciancia sent “in reference to him taking his own life.” 
 
 Cummings said Ciancia’s father asked him for help in locating his son. Cummings called Los Angeles police, who went to Ciancia’s apartment. There, two roommates said they had seen him Thursday and that he was fine. 
 
 Ciancia’s father owns an auto body shop in Salem County. 
 
 The younger Ciancia is a 2008 graduate of the Salesianum School, a Roman Catholic independent school for boys in Wilmington, Del., and moved out west about a year-and-a-half ago, the South Jersey Times reported. 
 
 Cummings said the Ciancias are a “good family” and that his department had had no dealings with the younger Ciancia. 
 
 Ciancia had at least five full 30-round magazines on him, an official briefed on the investigation told the Associated Press. The official said Ciancia was shot in the mouth and leg by two airport police officers. 
 
 “We just hit the deck. Everybody in the line hit the floor and shots just continued,” said Xavier Savant, who was waiting in the security line where the shooting took place. He described it as a “Bam! Bam! Bam!” burst of gunfire. 
 
 Savant, who was heading to New York with his family for the weekend, said panicked travelers ran through the metal detectors and into the terminal. 
 
 “My whole thing was to get away from him,” he said. 
 
 J. David Cox Sr., national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA workers, released a statement saying he was sickened by the “heinous act.” 
 
 “Thank you to all of our brave (transportation security officers) who put their lives on the line every day to keep the flying public safe,” he said. 
 
 The South Jersey Times and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
– Accused LAX shooter Paul Ciancia remains hospitalized today with gunshot wounds, though police haven't released his condition. One of the few widely reported tidbits about a potential motive is that the 23-year-old carried a note with anti-government views that said he wanted to kill TSA workers and "pigs." The AP reports that he also referred to himself as a "pissed-off patriot" angry at Homeland Security. Some other developments: NWO: The LA Times quotes an anonymous source as saying that the note contained the letters NWO, an apparent reference to the New World Order conspiracy theory that plays off fears off one totalitarian government ruling the world. Background: Ciancia grew up in Pennsville, N.J., and reportedly lived in LA for the past year or so. It wasn't clear how he made a living. His dad owned an auto body shop back home. "It was a very good family," says a local cop. "Whatever happened, it had nothing to do with their upbringing." "Quiet" seems to be the common way to describe him. "He kept to himself and ate lunch alone a lot," says a former classmate at Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del. "I really don't remember any one person who was close to him. ... In four years, I never heard a word out of his mouth." "Normal guy": A former neighbor in Pennsville had a different take. “I talked to him here and there," he tells the Star-Ledger. "He seemed very sociable, just a normal guy. When we were younger, we both had braces, so I would see him at (orthodontist) appointments. Never once did I see anything off about him. When I first found out, it was almost like — it can’t be him.” 150 rounds: Police say Ciancia brought that much ammo with him to the airport, then calmly walked around and asked people whether they worked for the TSA, reports USA Today. The note suggested he intended to die, and he texted as much to a family member beforehand, though apparently said nothing about the pending LAX attack. His worried father's attempts to have police in LA track him down didn't pan out, however. The TSA screener killed in the shooting was a 39-year-old father of two.