Posted on 12/08/2005 12:21:37 PM PST by Rennes Templar
A passenger on Flight 924 gives his account of the shooting and says Rigoberto Alpizar never claimed to have a bomb
By SIOBHAN MORRISSEY/MIAMI
At least one passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 924 maintains the federal air marshals were a little too quick on the draw when they shot and killed Rigoberto Alpizar as he frantically attempted to run off the airplane shortly before take-off.
"I don't think they needed to use deadly force with the guy," says John McAlhany, a 44-year-old construction worker from Sebastian, Fla. "He was getting off the plane." McAlhany also maintains that Alpizar never mentioned having a bomb.
"I never heard the word 'bomb' on the plane," McAlhany told TIME in a telephone interview. "I never heard the word bomb until the FBI asked me did you hear the word bomb. That is ridiculous." Even the authorities didn't come out and say bomb, McAlhany says. "They asked, 'Did you hear anything about the b-word?'" he says. "That's what they called it."
When the incident began McAlhany was in seat 24C, in the middle of the plane. "[Alpizar] was in the back," McAlhany says, "a few seats from the back bathroom. He sat down." Then, McAlhany says, "I heard an argument with his wife. He was saying 'I have to get off the plane.' She said, 'Calm down.'"
Alpizar took off running down the aisle, with his wife close behind him. "She was running behind him saying, 'He's sick. He's sick. He's ill. He's got a disorder," McAlhany recalls. "I don't know if she said bipolar disorder [as one witness has alleged]. She was trying to explain to the marshals that he was ill. He just wanted to get off the plane."
McAlhany described Alpizar as carrying a big backpack and wearing a fanny pack in front. He says it would have been impossible for Alpizar to lie flat on the floor of the plane, as marshals ordered him to do, with the fanny pack on. "You can't get on the ground with a fanny pack," he says. "You have to move it to the side."
By the time Alpizar made it to the front of the airplane, the crew had ordered the rest of the passengers to get down between the seats. "I didn't see him get shot," he says. "They kept telling me to get down. I heard about five shots."
McAlhany says he tried to see what was happening just in case he needed to take evasive action. "I wanted to make sure if anything was coming toward me and they were killing passengers I would have a chance to break somebody's neck," he says. "I was looking through the seats because I wanted to see what was coming.
"I was on the phone with my brother. Somebody came down the aisle and put a shotgun to the back of my head and said put your hands on the seat in front of you. I got my cell phone karate chopped out of my hand. Then I realized it was an official."
In the ensuing events, many of the passengers began crying in fear, he recalls. "They were pointing the guns directly at us instead of pointing them to the ground," he says "One little girl was crying. There was a lady crying all the way to the hotel."
McAlhany said he saw Alpizar before the flight and is absolutely stunned by what unfolded on the airplane. He says he saw Alpizar eating a sandwich in the boarding area before getting on the plane. He looked normal at that time, McAlhany says. He thinks the whole thing was a mistake: "I don't believe he should be dead right now."
This is just one witness. I'll wait for further corroboration before reaching the conclusion that the marshals were wrong to shoot the guy.
The marshals were only chasing him because he was running off the plane. They weren't chasing him because they caught him in the act of trying to detonate.
Air marshals tend toward the .357SIG - so says my instructor who teaches them, and recommends that round.
Those are the facts as given by Fox News today in an animation.
This part may not be completely accurate. I'm not saying it's not, but just saying that the facts aren't all in.
As I recall, those are the preliminary facts reported by the Marshal service at yesterday's press conference. The man turned and made threatening moves or actions to marshals - the man was warned repeatedly to drop.
I agree the facts may not be complete, or accurate, but those are the facts as officially reported.
..yes you are right, when it comes to FAM's it's the head shot that ends the threat
..by the way...those were courics questions
Doogle
Try reading my posts before commenting on them. I have said over and over that in the split second that the marshals had to act, they took the only course of action they could.
Why are you trying to so hard to come up with crackpot theories?
Replaced with ... ?
does he remind you of the disqualified "Juror 15" in the Peterson case?
speaking of which, guess his 15 minutes expired the day the real jurors came in
Agreed, but we've learned that facts in situations like these tend to be quite fluid. Remember after 9/11 how many of the stories reported the first day ended up being false?
Agitated people who get attention can also be a grave threat.
..in the ladies room
Doogle
I usually spend my time wondering if Brian is as dumb as he acts on TV, but every now and then he pulls one off, and that line this morning was brilliant. And he looked so proud of himself. He's unlistenable on the radio filling in for Tony Snow.
They all act like idiots on F&F, and I think it is because they're trying to be off-the-cuff funny and it falls flat a lot of the time. I should know, it happens to me plenty. But I've got to say, they get the interviews.
(Funny, knowing how others look when their humor falls flat doesn't make me feel better about mine. :( It seems to make it worse. And I'm not on TV.)
Are you kidding?
Try reading the news.
JeffAtlanta,
I do not see where it makes any difference whether the plane was parked and chocked, taxiing or inflight. But then, I wasn't there...I have to depend on the likes of CNN to tell me about it, unfortunately.
IMO, 100% of agitated people are a threat.
Amen brother!
From CNN front page...
As investigators try to piece together the final moments before two air marshals shot and killed an American Airlines passenger, questions are arising about whether he made a bomb threat. Air marshals said Rigoberto Alpizar announced he was carrying a bomb before being killed but so far no passenger has publicly concurred with that account.
LOL....we might even hear that before the weeks out
Doogle
The man spoke english and was told to stop in english and again in spanish when he refused to stop.
I am thankful the marshall did his job.
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