Greenfield man recalls terror of meeting LAX shooter

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A 65-year-old Greenfield man says he's lucky to be alive after coming face to face with the shooter inside LAX on Friday, November 1st. Leon Saryan was visiting his mother in Southern California when he says his trip home to Wisconsin became a living nightmare.

"As soon as I heard the first shots ring out, I heard the TSA agents hit the deck," Saryan said, referring to the moment 23-year-old Paul Ciancia opened fire at the airport.

As travelers rushed out of the area, Saryan was trapped in the middle of the security screening process.

"I was in the worst possible position because I wasn't really able to run like everybody else was doing," recalled Saryan. "The shooter was coming down this corridor and he saw me. He looked at me and he said 'TSA?' as a question and I'm just shaking my head no. And I was just kind of hunched down in a corner. I was afraid. I didn't know what was going to happen."

A TSA agent urged Saryan to get out of the area, running with him toward the gate. That agent was shot fleeing to safety.

"The TSA agent may have saved my life, because he took a bullet," said Saryan.

After everything settled down, Saryan found a corner and called his wife of 32 years.

"He called me at work -- said he almost got shot and that he was hiding," said Saryan's wife, Shirley. "I really didn't know what to say to him. It's unreal."

Saryan says he feels fortunate to have survived the situation without even a wound.