Chicago-Area Man Wounded In LAX Shooting Speaks Out For First Time

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago-area man who was wounded in Friday's shooting incident at the Los Angeles airport is telling his story for the first time. CBS 2's Mike Parker has it.

As his mother Judy looks on, Brian Ludmer – recovering from a serious leg wound – recalls being in the TSA security line at Terminal 3 when the shooting rampage began.

Says Ludmer, "We heard gunfire from the first floor, from the ticket level, So everybody started, everybody panicked and started running. I sort of continued down the hall. I remember a couple of TSA folks, and no – I wasn't looking, it just hit me in the leg. It just instantly wouldn't support me. I just collapsed."

Ludmer says he hid in a storage room and used a sweatshirt as a tourniquet until police found him, "and got me out of there though it was at great risk to themselves, not knowing where he (the shooter) was."

The alleged gunman planned to keep the rifle well hidden but accessible. Police say he had modified a travel kit to stand his concealed weapon upright. They say he cut holes in the top of a rollerboard suitcase and bottom of a backpack and stacked them, allowing him to lift off the backpack and pull out the rifle.

Says Ludmer, "I don't see any lawful purpose for having access to those sorts of weapons. I don't see the benefit that is outweighing the cost that it seems to be continually taking."

The 29-year-old Ludmer's condition has now been upgraded from fair to good as he recovers at UCLA Medical Center.

He is a graduate of Lake Forest High School and now teaches high school in Southern California.