A Lake Forest man injured in a deadly shooting at LAX on Friday is speaking out for the first time about his ordeal.
Brian Ludmer, is still hospitalized after he was shot in the right leg. He was standing between a pair of airport security agents in Terminal 3, where a gunman targeting TSA agents opened fire, killing officer Gerardo I. Hernandez.
"I don't even remember hearing the shot, but I remember feeling it," Ludmer said from his hospital room where he's undergone multiple surgeries.
Ludmer teaches at an LA high school, and was about to board a flight to Chicago when the shooting happened.
"I only remember seeing these other two TSA agents down in the portion of the hallway where I was, and then I got hit,"
His leg was so badly injured in the shooting, he says he remembers crawling to safety in a closet, and wondering if the gunman would follow the trail of blood. He applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding and was eventually found by a couple of police officers.
"I didn't know if he was going to follow me, or what to expect, but I was hoping I could hide out there," Ludmer said.
The 29-year-old suffered minimal nerve damage, which means there’s a “good chance” he’ll regain full use of his leg and foot. At least two more surgeries and a metal rod are in his immediate future.
"I don't think necessarily I was a target. I don't know, I think I was just sort of in the wrong place at the wrong time," Ludmer said.
Ludmer has not been working at his high school long enough to accrue the medical insurance or paid sick days he now needs to recover, so students at the school held a fundraiser to help pay his mounting bills.
The alleged shooter was identified as Paul Ciancia, 23, of Los Angeles.
