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KENNER, La. (AP) — U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson met Friday with security personnel at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, where a machete-wielding man was fatally shot last week during an attack on travelers and Transportation Safety Administration officers.
Johnson joined TSA officers Carol Richel, Walter Johnson and Christopher Lucia, Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Lt. Heather Sylve, as well as New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and other local government and law enforcement officials at the airport which is owned by the city of New Orleans but located in the city of Kenner in neighboring Jefferson Parish.
Last Friday, authorities said 63-year-old Richard White entered the airport carrying a bag later found to have contained Molotov cocktails. He attacked the TSA officers and travelers at one concourse with bug spray before chasing Richel while brandishing the machete.
Sylve fired three times as the two headed toward her, fatally injuring White. Richel received a minor bullet wound.
"One of our TSA officers, supervisor Carol Richel, was wounded in the attack, yet her first instinct after the incident was to secure her TSA inspection site," Johnson said in a prepared statement. "She also came to work the next day."
Earlier, at the airport, Johnson praised Sylve, whom he credited with saving Richel's life and preventing further injury.
"What you did was a model of heroic law enforcement," Johnson told Sylve. "I'm very proud of you, and our TSA personnel, very proud of you in more ways than I can express."
White died the day after the attack, which remains under investigation.
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