( CNN ) The man who attacked a security area at the New Orleans airport with a machete and wasp spray also had a bag of Molotov cocktails and a car containing smoke bombs and gas cylinders , authorities said . The suspect , Richard White , 63 , died Saturday after treatment for three bullet wounds he suffered when a sheriff 's lieutenant fired at him to halt the Friday night attack , the Jefferson Parish Sheriff 's Office said . Sheriff Newell Normand said earlier that investigators had n't been able to talk to White , who officials said suffered from some type of mental illness . He said White 's wife and children had been very cooperative . Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport was back open and fully operational , Mayor Mitch Landrieu said . He praised security officials for acting quickly and heroically and doing everything they could to stop the attack . The incident began when White , carrying a bag , entered one of the lanes at the security checkpoint for Concourse B and began spraying Transportation Security Administration agents and bystanders with a can of wasp spray , the sheriff 's office said . He then pulled a machete from his waistband and began swinging it at agents and others in the area . `` What I saw originally was one of the officers getting sprayed with the wasp spray , '' said TSA agent Carol Richel , whose arm was hit by one of the bullets fired at White . The officer being sprayed with wasp spray picked up a bag and threw it at White to slow him down , but the suspect still barged through , Richel told reporters . Richel , who was not armed , yelled for everyone to run as she made her way toward the sheriff 's lieutenant , who she knew had a weapon . `` I was calling , 'Run , run ' for them to get away from him , and I was calling for the ( lieutenant ) so she was there and alert , '' Richel said . `` I did n't hear him say anything , '' she said . `` Once I yelled for the checkpoint to be cleared , I looked over my shoulder and he was coming after me . And I ran as fast as I could and thank God the officer was as close as she was , because I would n't be here today . '' She said the man came `` within inches '' of whacking her with the machete . `` This man was swinging very hard , very hard with that machete , '' Richel said . `` And if he would have made contact with anybody , it would have been terrible . '' Normand said Lt. Heather Slyve fired three shots , ultimately stopping the attacker . He said investigators believe it was the first shot that went through Richel 's upper right arm . Richel showed off a bright pink bandage on her arm and said the bullet went through her tricep . `` Originally , I thought the machete hit me . I did n't realize it was a bullet , '' she said . `` I knew he was close , so I honestly thought he hit me and she shot him . '' When White approached the checkpoint , he was carrying a bag that he dropped as soon as the first agent confronted him , Normand said . `` What the bag revealed was six half-pint mason jars with cloth wicks into a liquid that we now know to be gasoline -- what you would commonly refer to as a Molotov cocktail , '' Normand said . A grill lighter and plastic letter opener were also in the bag , and next to his body investigators found powdery material and wicks , which they determined were from crushed smoke bombs . `` The fact that he ended up dropping the bag ( when ) the TSA agent threw an item at him was huge in the short 40-second span ... of this event , '' Normand said . `` Had he been able to hold onto the bag , he might not have continued to chase the TSA agents through the checkpoint . He might have gone somewhere else . '' The bomb squad found more smoke bombs in his car , and in the trunk were three gas tanks -- one for Freon , one for oxygen and one for acetylene , a compressed gas used in welding and metal-cutting . Normand said their intended purpose was n't clear . Normand said `` there is a mental illness component '' in their investigation of the suspect . `` No one at this point in time has any notion about what may have triggered this behavior , '' Normand said . `` And not unlike dealing with the mentally ill , sometimes you will never know what actually triggers some of this type of behavior . '' People who had recently interacted with White described him as very cordial , calm , cool and collected , Normand said . They reported having no suspicions about him and said nothing seemed out of the ordinary . It was n't clear why White was at the airport . Contrary to earlier reports , Normand said Saturday , White was no longer a taxi driver . CNN 's Janet DiGiacomo , Joe Sutton , Tony Marco and Greg Botelho contributed to this report .
Suspect died after treatment for bullet wounds . Sheriff suspects the suspect also had smoke bombs and alcohol cocktails . Richard ##spect allegedly attacked an airport security area with a bomb .