South Jersey Native Charged in LAX Shootings to Make Initial Court Appearance

Paul Ciancia, the Pennsville native charged with murder in connection with the shooting at Los Angeles International Airport last month, will make his initial court appearance Wednesday morning, the United States Attorney’s Office out of the Central District of California (Los Angeles) announced Monday evening.

Ciancia will make his initial appearance in a room at the West Valley Detention Center, a San Bernardino County jail facility where he is being held in federal custody, according to the Attorney’s Office.

Ciancia will be asked if he apprised of his rights, seen the criminal complaint filed against him, and if he has an attorney. He will not be asked to enter a plea, but future court dates will be set, according to the Attorney’s Office.

Ciancia is the subject of a federal complaint charging him with murder of a federal officer and commission of violence in an international airport in connection with the Nov. 1 shooting death of TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez.

He faces the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty for each count.

He had been hospitalized in critical condition following a shootout with police after the shooting, but was released into the custody of the U.S Marshals Service on Nov. 19.

Ciancia attended Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del., where a classmate said Ciancia was bullied in 2008.

His neighbors described his family as quiet, and mostly keeping to themselves. His father owns Salem County Collision.

He moved to California about a year and a half ago, according to Pennsville Police Chief Allen J. Cummings.