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Calm urged amid chaos of LA airport shooting =============================== Oliver Burkeman in New York Friday July 5, 2002 The Guardian Intense security was stepped up still further across the United States yesterday as Americans nervously celebrating Independence Day tried to absorb what initially seemed to be exactly the kind of news they had been fearing. Three people were killed at Los Angeles airport when a gunman opened fire near the El Al counter, killing a man and a woman and wounding seven others before being shot dead by a security guard for the Israeli airline. In New York, where about 4,000 police officers were joined by fighter jet patrols with hours to go before a massive firework display along Manhattan's eastern shore, the shooting in Los Angeles prompted increased police protection for "Israeli locations" including the El Al area at JFK international airport in Queens. "We are going to err on the side of caution here," New York's police commissioner, Ray Kelly, told CNN. "We're going to the El Al facilities... providing extra coverage at the airport and other high-profile locations we have covered in the past, we're now putting additional police coverage in those locations." Flight restrictions were already in place at altitudes lower than 10,000 feet over Manhattan - an echo of the days immediately after September 11 - with similar precautions in Washington DC, where people celebrating the 226th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence at the National Mall were subject to rigorous screening and bag searching. But with news that the FBI did not have reason to believe the incident was "terrorist-related" came a concerted push by law enforcement agencies and civic leaders for Americans to enjoy themselves as planned. "We want everyone to go on and enjoy the holiday - we'd like people to be vigilant, though, to be a little bit on guard, on alert," Mr Kelly said. "If anybody sees anything out of the ordinary we would appreciate a call [but] go out and enjoy - law enforcement is very much on the job." Speaking at a press conference called after the shooting, James Hahn, the mayor of Los Angeles, advised a similar watchful calm. "I don't know that there's any reason for the travelling public to shy away this moment from air travel," he told reporters. And as news spread of the crash of a small private plane into a crowd enjoying Fourth of July celebrations in a Los Angeles suburb, killing at least one person, a spokeswoman for the federal aviation administration, Laura Brown, urged calm. The crash "sounds completely like an accident", she said. A certain jitteriness had characterised preparations for events across the country yesterday - from the famous Boston Pops concert alongside the city's Charles river, to the notorious hot-dog eating contest on Coney Island. The day was the first major test for the homeland security coordination centre, which was reported to be monitoring about 2,100 events nationwide. The tension on what was a swelteringly hot day - with a high of 38C forecast in Washington - had been heightened early on when the nation woke to FBI warnings that people "with terrorist ties" had downloaded pictures of stadiums in Indiana and Missouri from the internet. But they had no information about planned attacks, they said, and both venues were shut for the holiday. There was no immediate response from the White House to the Los Angeles incident. Speaking at a war veterans' memorial in Ripley, Virginia, George Bush made gratitude the message of the first presidential Independence Day speech since September 11. "The anniversary of America's independence is a day for gratitude and a day for celebration," he said. "On the Fourth of July we count our blessings. And there are so many to count: we're thankful for the families we love, we're thankful for the opportunities in America, we're thankful for our freedom, the freedom declared by our founding fathers, defended by many generations, and granted to each one of us by Almighty God." California's governor, Gray Davis, said: "I can assure the people of California that there are more law enforcement officials on duty in California tonight than has ever been the case, and that was before the incident at LA airport... I would encourage them to continue with the celebrations." Mr Davis said the shooting did not indicate a failure of the state's security plans. "The law enforcement profession are going to withhold judgment about what, if any, changes should be made to airport security until they determine exactly what was going on," he said. 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