KENNER, La. (AP) — Authorities say a man who died hours after being shot during a machete-wielding rampage at New Orleans' international airport had a history of mental health problems.

Sheriff Newell Normand in the New Orleans suburb of Jefferson Parish says 63-year-old Richard White was shot three times by a sheriff's deputy Friday night, halting the rampage among unarmed TSA agents and frightened travelers.

"Fortunately, he didn't seriously injure anybody," Normand said at a news conference Saturday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

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," Normand said Saturday.

He says investigators are trying to determine the nature and extent of White's mental health problems.

(Story by: Kevin McGill, The Associated Press, with minor editing by WIBX)

 

 

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