Machete attacker had Molotov cocktails

A machete-wielding attacker who died hours after being shot by a sheriff’s deputy who stopped his rampage at New Orleans’ international airport had a bag loaded with Molotov cocktails, authorities say.

Richard White, 63, had been shot on Friday night as he chased an unarmed Transportation Security Administration agent through a concourse full of frightened travellers — and in the direction of a sheriff’s deputy, who drew her gun and fired three times. White died on Saturday afternoon.

Sheriff Newell Normand said investigators discovered White had been carrying a bag loaded with Molotov cocktails, but had dropped it in the airport. The bag contained six Mason jars with cloth wicks soaked in gasoline and that residue from smoke bombs also was found near White’s body, Normand added.

“Fortunately, he didn’t seriously injure anybody,” said Normand, speaking at a news conference at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. He is sheriff of Jefferson Parish, a suburban New Orleans district where the airport is located.

Normand said the situation could have been much worse.

“You know, sometimes, the saying: You’d rather be lucky than good. I think we were both last night to the nth degree,” he said.

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