Posted on 12/07/2005 4:43:31 PM PST by ConservativeMind
MIAMI (AP) - An agitated passenger who claimed to have a bomb in his backpack was shot and killed by a federal air marshal Wednesday after he bolted frantically from a jetliner that was about to take off, officials said. No bomb was found.
The man, identified as Rigoberto Alpizar, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen, was gunned down on a jetway just before the American Airlines plane was about to leave for Orlando, near his home in Maitland.
It was the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks that an air marshal had shot at anyone, Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said.
According to a witness, the man frantically ran down the aisle of the Boeing 757, flailing his arms, while his wife tried to explain that he was mentally ill and had not taken his medication.
The passenger indicated there was a bomb in his bag and was confronted by air marshals but ran off the aircraft, Doyle said. The marshals went after him and ordered him to get down on the ground, but he did not comply and was shot when he apparently reached into the bag, Doyle said.
The plane, Flight 924, had arrived in Miami from Medellin, Colombia, just after noon, and the shooting occurred shortly after 2 p.m. as the plane was about to take off for Orlando with the man and 119 other passengers and crew, American spokesman Tim Wagner said. Alpizar had arrived in Miami earlier in the day from Ecuador, authorities said.
After the shooting, investigators spread passengers' bags on the tarmac and let dogs sniff them for explosives, and bomb squad members blew up at least two bags.
No bomb was found, said James E. Bauer, agent in charge of the Federal Air Marshals field office in Miami. He said there was no reason to believe there was any connection to terrorists.
The concourse where the shooting took place was shut down for a half-hour, but the rest of the airport continued operating, officials said.
Mary Gardner, a passenger aboard the Orlando-bound flight, told WTVJ-TV 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 - a mental illness also known as manic-depression - and had not had his medication.
Gardner said four to five shots were fired. She could not see the shooting.
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 TV station via a cell phone. "They wouldn't let you move. They wouldn't let you get anything out of your bag."
There were only 33 air marshals at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. The Bush administration hired thousands more afterward, but the exact number is classified.
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Associated Press writers Mark Sherman and Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington contributed to this report.
They attempted it with the brazilian mans shooting in london, and you know they are gonna spin this one too.
I believe you misunderstood my first comment, which was tongue-in-cheek (and not very clear, sorry).
This widow doesn't have any chance in Hades of winning a lawsuit in this case.
ROom2000: You are much too logical for this thread. You are supposed to shout, "GOOD SHOOT!"
Real bombers also don't have their wives following them shouting that he's bipolar and didn't take his medication, and they usually don't run OFF the airplane. And bombs aren't often in bags that have already gone through security screening.
GOOD SHOOT!
wingtip footprints?
LOL
What Democrats think does not matter to me!;)
"People who are manic-depressive can still distinguish reality from fantasy, and respond appropriately to orders to stop, put their hands up, etc."
Depends, in some cases of bi-polar (type II) an untreated person can become quite irrational, have auditory and visual halucinations etc. etc.
I know this because I know someone like that. On their meds they are as normal as can be, but without them they would act very much like that guy.
The amazing part of this story is that its even news.
Shoulda just tossed him out the door onto the runway and thrown him out with the trash.
Maybe made the local papaers at best.
When the cops don't shoot someone yelling they have a bomb fleeing and reaching into their bag. Thats when I want a national crisis.
Except that when all the evidence was in, it looks as if the man in London did NOT run from anyone. Here, all the evidence seems to be that the man did exactly what the Marshals said he did. I believe that this was a "good shoot" but London seems not to have been.
If you read your own tag line, and apply that to the decedant, maybe you'll understand. America will not tolerate threats anymore. This was suicide by cop. Sad, but not anything like the wrongheaded screed you posted.
If the guy was truly mentally ill, this is quite a tragedy for his family. They should be in our prayers.
However, you can't say the Air Marshall did the wrong thing, if the facts presented here are correct. You can't take chances on someone who claims to have a bomb in their bag and then reaches into their bag acting like they are going to set it off.
The TSA doesn't control King Fahd International Airport.
God know what the "Air Marshals" would have done if the guy took a dump on the drink cart.
Probably set off a tear gas canister or two.
The air marshall didn't decide.
The would-be bomber made the decision.
ISN'T THIS THE VERY REASON WE HAVE THESE AIR MARSHALLS NOW? HOW WOULD HE KNOW THIS MAN WAS DISTURBED? HE DID HIS JOB & NOW THERE WILL BE ALL KINDS OF BS & LAWSUITS. I FEEL FOR THIS AIR MARSHALL & HIS FAMILY. HE WAS DOING HIS JOB, A JOB HE WAS TRAINNED TO DO. I BLAME THE WIFE. SHE SHOULD HAVE MADE HER HUSBAND TAKE HIS MEDS. SHE KNEW WHAT COULD HAPPEN BETTER THEN ANYONE. IF HE REFUSED HIS MEDS SHE HAD NO RIGHT TO PUT THE PUBLIC IN DANGER & THATS JUST WHAT SHE DID. SHE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN HIM TO HIS DR ASAP BEFORE TAKING A FLIGHT, SEEMS TO ME SHE DIDNT HAVE COMMON SENSE. SEEMS TO ME THERES A BIG LACK OF GOOD OLD COMMON SENSE ALL AROUND THESE DAYS. VERY SAD.
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