Actor James Franco was among the passengers caught up in the drama at Los Angeles International Airport (Lax) on Friday (01Nov13) after a gunman opened fire at security officials inside a terminal.

The unidentified shooter targeted a Transport Security Administration (Tsa) official at a Terminal 3 checkpoint at around 9.30am local time, prompting police to evacuate the building and surrounding areas.

Authorities grounded all flights at Lax as they hunted down the suspect, who was shot and reportedly killed shortly after cops conducted an airport-wide manhunt.

Officials have since confirmed that one Tsa employee was killed in the incident, while another was wounded.

Franco took to his Instagram.com blog on Friday to share a photo of himself on a plane, suggesting his flight had been one of the many grounded during the emergency.

In the accompanying caption, the 127 Hours star simply wrote, "At lax Some s**tbag shot up the place."

Meanwhile, reality Tv stars Grant Imahara and Tory Belleci from U.S. show Mythbusters were among those evacuated from Terminal 3, sharing photos of the chaos on Twitter.com.

Celebrities also flocked to Twitter to express their shock at the developments as the news of the shooting broke, with Kelly Osbourne tweeting, "Wtf (what the f**k)!!! I really hope everyone at Lax is ok and the Lapd get that shooter fast!"

Josh Groban wrote, "Oh no. Lax. News isn't saying much. How horrible...hope it's resolved soon", and singer Sara Bareilles added, "I'm horrified by the shooting at Lax. I feel so saddened by why so many people turn to violence. Only love can take the place of hate."

Actress Alyssa Milano, comedian Patton Oswalt and singer Ashley Roberts have also commented on the incident online.