Posted on 12/07/2005 11:28:34 AM PST by YoshiBear
No wonder they're grabbing $3 Trillion/year and rising fast.
Maybe sombody ought to tell MSNBC there's not much left to tell..
Thank you. I got the sound bite off local news in Miami.
They are carrying the modern equivalent of 125 grain Black Talons. (I have a friend who is a FAM).
Man killed on American Airlines flight
Denver Rocky Mountain News
December 7, 2005
Associated Press
http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/nation/article/0,1299,DRMN_16_4296682,00.html
MIAMI -- A passenger who claimed to have a bomb in a carry-on bag was shot and killed by a federal air marshal today on a jetway connected to an American Airlines plane that had arrived from Colombia, officials said.
Cable News Network reported the deceased is a 44-year-old U.S. citizen. A law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed shots were fired from the marshal's gun. The airline said the confrontation was on a jetway.
A second federal law enforcement official, who also spoke only on condition of anonymity because the investigation still was unfolding, said the incident followed a threatening comment made by a passenger. According to CNN, the passenger was moving aggressively through the cabin and had made the statement that he had a bomb in his carry-on bag.
A witness said the man frantically ran down the aisle and a woman with him said he was mentally ill.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said after the plane had parked at the gate, a passenger indicated there was a bomb in the bag. The passenger was confronted by air marshals but ran off the plane, Doyle said.
A team of air marshals pursued and ordered the passenger to get on the ground. The passenger did not comply and was shot when apparently reaching into the bag, Doyle said.
Passenger Mary Gardner told WTVJ in Miami that the man ran down the aisle from the rear of the plane. "He was frantic, his arms flailing in the air," she said. She said a woman followed, shouting, "My husband! My husband!"
Gardner said she heard the woman say her husband was bipolar and had not had his medication.
The plane, Flight 924, had just arrived from Medellin, Colombia, and was headed on to Orlando.
Airport and Miami-Dade County police officials said they had no immediate comment. American Airlines officials confirmed the shooting was on a jetway.
"All I know is that it was on the jet bridge, outside the aircraft," American spokesman Tim Wagner said. "I don't know yet if the passenger had been on the plane and was getting off, or was starting to board the aircraft."
Flight 924 arrived at Miami airport at 12:16 p.m. Eastern and was scheduled to depart at 2:18 p.m., Wagner said. He said the shooting happened shortly after 2 p.m., suggesting passengers may have already been preparing to depart for Orlando.
Martin Gonzalez, spokesman for Colombia's civil aviation agency, said the flight "left normally with no problems."
oh puh-leeeaaassee...
That's more unusual. But I suppose the combination of adolescence and mental illness could result in symptoms that make the mental illness component seem more severe than it really is. I also think there's a tendency to rush a schizophrenia diagnosis in minors because 1) there is a good deal of evidence that the earlier medication is started, the more slowly the disease will progress, and 2) while a minor, the parents can still force medication, potentially avoiding a situation where an 18-19 year old is definitively diagnosed with schizophrenia, but being unmedicated, doesn't believe it and refuses to start taking medication.
guy in moonsuit looking at two packages on runway
Victim In 1st-Ever Air Marshal Shooting ID'd
Dec 7, 2005 4:49 pm US/EasternMIAMI INT'L AIRPORT (CBS4 News/AP) For the first time, a federal air marshal shot and killed an airline passenger or suspect. It happened this afternoon at Miami Int'l Airport at the entrance to an American Airlines plane from the jetway. Flight 942 had just arrived from Medellin, Colombia, and was on a layover before heading to Orlando. The passenger reportedly claimed to have a bomb in a carry-on bag.
The man has been identified as Rigoberto Alpizar of central Florida. He was a 44-year-old United States citizen, according to Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Joanna Gonzalez. Alpizar had reportedly gotten off the plane, cleared customs, and was getting back on.
There were 133 passengers on the plane. The others have been put on board a bus. We don't know where the bus is going, but it's assumed the passengers will be questioned as witnesses.
All baggage on board the plane has been laid out next to the plane on the runway. They'll be sniffed by dogs and/or x-rayed to make sure there is nothing inside that shouldn't be there. The Miami-Dade Bomb Squad is going to detonate Alpizar's bag.
The Department of Homeland Security, responsible for safety aboard US Aircraft, says the shooting took place when air marshals aboard the flight spotted someone they thought was 'walking aggressively.' When agents attempted to stop the passenger as he exited the aircraft, they say the passenger reached into a bag, causing the officers to open fire.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle says, as first reported by CBS4's Jennifer Santiago, a passenger had indicated there was a bomb in a carry-on bag, after the plane had parked at the gate. The passenger was confronted by air marshals but ran off the plane. Doyle says a team of air marshals gave chase and ordered the passenger to get on the ground. The passenger complied, but then was shot while apparently reaching into the bag.
The flight was AA flight 924, a Boeing 757 bound from Medellin, Colombia. It was at gate D-42 when the shots were reported. The airport's Concourse D has reopened, but passengers who were on board the plane during the shooting are being held for questioning. That appears to be standard procedure after an incident of this type.
CBS4 Investigative Reporter Mike Kirsch says a source close to the investigation says he has been told one person on the aircraft is dead. This has not yet been officially confirmed.
The Associated Press reported that a passenger on the flight, Mary Gardner, told a television station that she saw a man running "frantically" up the plane's aisle before he was shot. A woman, apparently Alpizar's wife, said he suffered from bipolar disorder and had not taken his medication, Gardner said.
Gardner said four to five shots were fired. She could not see the shooting.
An air marshal spokesman talking to CBS4 said the air marshal thought shooting was in the best interest of public safety. They're trained to use "any force necessary to subdue the individual."
After the shooting, police boarded the plane and told the passengers to put their hands on their heads, Gardner said.
"It was quite scary," she told the station via a cell phone. "They wouldn't let you move. They wouldn't let you get anything out of your bag."
Michael Rodriguez, a teenage passenger who is moving from Colombia to Tampa, told CBS4's Dave Malkoff he didn't know what had happened until he was off the plane.
A source tells CBS4's Jennifer Santiago reports a source tells her that this incident was not terrorism-related, that a passenger aboard the plane announced that he had a bomb. CBS4's Brian Andrews reports his sources say the incident happened very close to the front door of the Boeing 757, and got into a confrontation with two air marshals traveling aboard the plane. Shots were fired over concern for the safety aboard the plane, Brian's sources say.
In an events such as this, air marshals consider everyone on board the plane a suspect, a precaution because they don't know for sure how many people are involved.
There has been no indication yet when the passengers aboard the flight will be allowed to continue their trip to Orlando. Other planes are being allowed to land and take off at the airport, which had been closed briefly while the incident unfolded.
American Airlines released a statement saying, "There was an incident on the jetbridge of flight 924 scheduled from Miami to Orlando. The incident involved a Federal Air Marshal who had been on the aircraft. American will not have any additional comment at this time. Any further details should come from either the Miami-Dade Metro Police or the Federal Air Marshal office."
According to American Airlines' Web site, Flight 924 arrived from Medellin at 12:16 p.m. It was supposed to depart for Orlando at 2:18 p.m. The site says the flight status is delayed; Orlando's airport Web site said the delayed flight was scheduled to arrive at 5:56 p.m., but American Airlines did not confirm that plan.
Martin Gonzalez, spokesman for Colombia's civil aviation agency, said he had no information regarding the incident. "The flight left normally with no problems," he told the Associated Press in Bogota.
He said he did not have a list of passengers who were aboard the plane.
There were only 32 air marshals at the time of the Sept. 11th attacks. The Bush administration hired thousands more afterward, though the exact number is classified. An air marshall spokesperson would not tell CBS4 News whether there are more air marshals working during the holiday season.
Or are you happier if the lives of every other passenger had been endangered? Have you ever tried to secure an unsecure situation?
You would think that someone with the name "Wolf Blitzer" would know better than to make assumptions based on a name. No, Wolfie assumes that if you have a hispanic surname you just HAVE to be spanish speaking/english challenged.
One of the media will "leak" based on an anonymous source. If they're right, it was a close source....If it's not the story, it was a "planted" source.
drug dogs smelled something? or explosive dogs smelled something?
Chrissy Matthews is surprising me tonight - he's NOT bashing the Air Marshals
Mental patients should be shipped by bus...or packed tightly in their white coats and sent by train.
give him a few minutes - he's just gearing up - probably a setup!
just heard they are detonating 3 suspicious bags
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