Man Says Houston Airport Shooter Told Him to Leave

Carnell Marcus Moore, 29, of Beaumont, shot himself in the temple with a 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol Thursday afternoon after shooting twice into the ceiling at a ticketing area at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

A North Texas man said he was warned about a Houston airport shooting just seconds before the first shot was fired.

Carnell Marcus Moore, 29, of Beaumont, Texas, shot himself in the temple with a 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol Thursday afternoon after shooting twice into the ceiling at a ticketing area at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Carnell Marcus Moore, a Granbury man who was traveling to Houston for a funeral, said Moore told him to leave while the two sat behind one another.

"I heard a voice come from behind me and say, 'Excuse me, sir,'" Hart said. "[He] sounded very polite, and I looked and didn't see anyone sitting next to me, so I turned around to him and said, 'Are you talking to me?'"

Hart said he turned around after Moore, who had a "kind of a blank stare" and an evil grin, didn't answer.

"Then I heard a voice, a voice from God, that said, 'Turn around and don't let this drop,' so I turned back around and said, 'Can I help you?' And, in a deep voice, he said, 'You need to leave.'

Hart said he decided not to question the man anymore and walked over to the restrooms, where his wife was.

Then he heard one gunshot and then another. Hart said he saw the man shoot himself in the temple.

"It all happened pretty fast," he said. "I'm just amazed. I feel so blessed to be alive here today. From what I hear, he had an assault rifle as well as a pistol. I think he came with the intention of taking other people with him and, for whatever reason, God didn't give him permission to do that."

Investigators say that a suicide note indicated that Moore had no plans to hurt others.

Houston police Sgt. Brian Harris said Moore had a bag containing an AR-15 rifle with ammunition. That gun was not fired and not removed from the bag, which also contained a Gideon Bible and the suicide note, Harris said.

"'Here in the last hour, I yield to mercy when this could have turned bad,"' Harris said, reading some of the contents of the note signed by Moore.

A Department of Homeland Security special agent who confronted Moore in the terminal also shot and wounded him in the shoulder when he refused to drop his weapon. Harris said Moore's head wound was the fatal gunshot.

"At this point, we know what this was and what it wasn't," said Harris' partner, investigator Fil Waters. "And what it was, was a desperate act committed by a confused young man who has apparently lost all hope."

Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland said it is not illegal for people to carry firearms in public areas and that Moore had not breached secure areas of the airport.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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