The young man believed to have carried out a shooting at Los Angeles International Airport had sent a sibling a text message mentioning suicide, leading their father to seek authorities' help in finding him, a New Jersey police chief said Friday.

Paul Ciancia's father called Pennsville Police Chief Allen Cummings early Friday afternoon saying another of his children had received a text message from the 23-year-old "in reference to him taking his own life," the chief told The Associated Press.

The elder Ciancia asked for help in locating Paul, Cummings said. The chief called Los Angeles police, which sent a patrol car to Ciancia's apartment. It wasn't clear whether the police visited before or after the airport shooting.

"Basically, there were two roommates there" Cummings said. "They said, `We saw him yesterday and he was fine.'"

He told Cianci's father that because of his son's age, he couldn't take a missing persons report.

A law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity identified Paul Ciancia as the man who pulled a semi-automatic rifle from a bag and shot his way past a security checkpoint at the airport, killing a security officer and wounding two other people.

The gunman was wounded in a shootout with police and was taken into custody, Los Angeles police said.

The official who identified Ciancia was briefed at the airport on the investigation and requested anonymity because was he was not authorized to speak publicly.

A motive wasn't immediately clear. The shooter was wearing fatigues and carrying a bag containing a handwritten note that said he "wanted to kill TSA and pigs," the official said.

A second law enforcement official confirmed the identity, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

The Pennsville police department has had no dealings with the younger Ciancia, Cummings said.

Outside the father's home Friday in Pennsville _ in southern New Jersey across the Delaware River from Wilmington, Del. _ a police cruiser blocked the long driveway to the home, which isn't visible from the road. Phone calls weren't answered, and efforts to reach siblings were also unsuccessful.

Neighbor Josh Pagan, 17, said that he would sometimes encounter Ciancia at orthodontist appointments, but that it had been at least two years since the last one.

"He was never weird toward me. He never gave me any weird vibes," he said, adding that in the 10 years he's lived across the street from the Ciancia family "they've been nothing but nice to us."

Ciancia's father owns an auto body shop, Cummings said.

"I've been here 23 years and they are a good family," he said.

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Rubinkam reported from Pennsylvania. Associated Press writer Tami Abdollah in Los Angeles and Alicia Caldwell in Washington contributed to this report.