2002 LOCAL NEWS: TRAGEDY AT LAX TWO WERE KILLED, BUT ANGUISH WASN'T OVER.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

They were both Jews born in Israel, and both found a happier, safer life in America - one the father of eight; the other an angelic daughter.

And both died in the kind of violence they had fled from - innocent victims of a heavily armed Egyptian immigrant, despondent over personal and business problems.

Yaakov Aminov, 46, of North Hollywood, a diamond importer and father of eight, and Victoria Hen, 25, of Chatsworth, a ticket agent for El Al, were gunned down the morning of July 4 at Los Angeles International Airport.

Their killer was Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, 41, a resident of Irvine who had come to the United States from Egypt about 10 years earlier. He sprayed about a dozen bullets around the second-floor ticketing level at Bradley International Terminal before being shot dead by private security guards for El Al.

Hen was mourned by her parents, Avinoam and Rachel Hen, her two teenage brothers and her boyfriend, who had planned to propose to her later in the day.

Aminov's pregnant wife, Anat, was comforted by the tightly knit Sephardic Jewish community in which her husband had been a leader.

And before the end of the year, each of the families faced another tragedy.

Anat Aminov lost the baby she was carrying shortly after her husband's death, and one of her sisters died in a fire in Israel.

Hen's brother, Nimrod Hen, 18, Chatsworth, died Nov. 26 of injuries suffered 10 days earlier in a traffic crash.

``It's one of the most unfortunate tragedies I've ever seen in my extensive career,'' said Stephen Solomon, a Los Angeles attorney serving as a spokesman for the Hen family. ``It's horrendous. The impact of losing two family members in two violent incidents in a three-month period - you question your basis for survival. My prayers go out to them.''

Rabbi Aron Tendler, a spokesman for the Aminov family, said the slayings sparked shock and anger among the community, followed by an outpouring of love and caring for both families.

``The general lessons of terror are that when we first of all read about other victims we do not know, we need to personalize them,'' said Tendler, of Shaarey Zedek, the largest Orthodox congregation in the San Fernando Valley. ``We need to remember the feelings we had when we first heard about the deaths of Yaakov and Victoria; just as we suffered then, and suffer now, a whole new group of community and family are themselves going through the same senseless tragedy and pain.

``And when we're asked to contribute and extend ourselves to them, everyone should feel an obligation to do so, to at least turn something horrible into a little bit of good.''

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) Los Angeles police close the departure ramp to travelers, seen at right, at LAX on July 4, after a gunman opened fire at Israel's El Al Airlines ticket counter.

Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press

VICTIMS

(2) AMINOV

(3) HEN

GUNMAN

(4) HADAYET