Brian Ludmer was preparing to board a flight to the Chicago area to attend a friend's wedding when authorities say Paul Ciancia opened fire at a screening checkpoint.
The Calabasas High School teacher was seriously injured when he was shot in the leg.
"He said people were running everywhere. He said there were children all around him. He said it was bottlenecked," Calabasas High School principal CJ Foss said about Ludmer. "Being the person that he is, he let other people go before him and helped them through, and then the gunman turned on him, and he looked back at one point and was face to face with him."
A bullet shattered Ludmer's leg, sending him fleeing for cover.
"At some point he made it into a closet, and he formed a tourniquet out of something he found and wrapped his leg. I asked him where he learned that, and he said he was an Eagle Scout," Foss said.
Ludmer's mother arrived at LAX from Chicago Friday night to be by her son's side.
It could be weeks before Ludmer can return to the classroom because he faces more surgeries.
