MACHETE ATTACK Suspect shot after New Orleans airport melee

A man armed with a machete and insecticide attacked two Transportation Security Agency workers at a New Orleans airport on Friday before he was shot multiple times by authorities, police said.

Richard White, 63, allegedly walked up to a TSA checkpoint at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport around 9 p.m. CDT when he pulled out a can of wasp insecticide and sprayed a male officer, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said. He then allegedly pulled out a machete and slashed a female officer in the upper right arm.

The male officer grabbed some luggage to defend himself from the machete, and then was chased by White, Normand said.

Other TSA officers responded to the scene and shot White three times in the left side of his chest, face and left thigh. He was unresponsive when he was rushed to a local hospital, officials said.

The gunfire also grazed an innocent bystander who was being attended to at the airport, police said. Some other visitors suffered minor injuries as they scrambled to leave the area, police said.

Passenger Jeremy Didier told Fox8Live.com that he saw someone "jump past the security guards waving a machete and cutting people." Another traveler, Cameron Matthews, reported hearing several shots and seeing people running before she hid until the incident was over.

The male officer was taken to a local hospital, where he was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, the TSA said. The entire airport was closed for about 20 minutes.

White is a taxi driver who recently received his chauffeur's license, authorities said. He has "little to no criminal history" aside from a few disturbing the peace and traffic charges, Normand added.

Normand said authorities do not believe White posed a national security threat, and were investigating whether he had any connections to the airport or anyone who was there Friday night.

FBI agents were at the airport and were assisting with the investigation, a bureau spokesman said.

FoxNews.com's Karl de Vries contributed to this report.