A Miami SWAT team boarded the plane after the shooting. That's probably where the shotgun came from.
Let's face it, most people don't like having weapons leveled at them, or being in the middle of shootouts, or having their bags blown apart, or any number of things that went on. As a result, a lot of them are going to give accounts hostile to the marshals.
The marshal messed up, plain and simple, his job is to shoot terrorists, Rigoberto Alpizar was not a terrorist. It was an understandable error, given the circumstances, but an error none the less.
The unfortunate consequence of his error is that there are going to be more formal procedures and second guessing that are going to limit the aggressiveness of the marshals during a real attack.
Try this on for size:
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The hearts of all NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) members go out to the family of Rigoberto Alpizar and to the marshals involved in the shooting, who we know must be profoundly affected by this tragedy. We recognize that air marshals have very difficult jobs and sometimes have to make split second, life and death decisions. NAMI calls upon the Federal Air Marshall Service and all other law enforcement agencies to take a close look at its training and education protocols and, if currently lacking, adopt measures to prepare officers to respond effectively to people with severe mental illness. Law enforcement officers frequently come into contact with people who may be acting erratically or irrationally due to severe mental illnesses or other brain disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Many communities throughout the United States, including Miami, have adopted Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs to better prepare officers to respond to these situations. These programs work and save lives!
I suspect that you are going to see more and more of this type of language "We know they have to make split second decisions - but...". Unfortuately this is the process that helps us begin to slowly slide towards the next 9/11
Wrong!
Alpizar messed up.
the marshal did a great job.
Wow, so now terrorists just have to get training in acting like someone with a mental illness before they explode....
susie
That marshal should be rewarded.
>>>The marshal messed up, plain and simple, his job is to shoot terrorists, Rigoberto Alpizar was not a terrorist. It was an understandable error, given the circumstances, but an error none the less.
Yu said "The marshal messed up, plain and simple, his job is to shoot terrorists, Rigoberto Alpizar was not a terrorist."
Tha air marshals didn't mess up, the passenger did.
The air marshals were faced with a LOUSY tactical situation and only a few seconds to make a decision. They had a hundred or so lives to deal with in the decision process.
They made the EXACT decision I would want them to make. They had no way of knowing that he was not a terrorist. With lives in the balance and only a split second to make the decision, they chose the route designed to protect the largest number of people.
I disagree 100 percent.
"The marshal messed up, plain and simple, his job is to shoot terrorists, Rigoberto Alpizar was not a terrorist. It was an understandable error, given the circumstances, but an error none the less."
It was not an error. Were they supposed to ask him if he was a real terrorist? Is that a bomb you are carrying, sir? The air marshall's job is to eleimanate all threats to the plane and passengers no matter if it is terrorism related or not. All possible threats must be eliminated, period. This guy established himself as a threat and the threat was eliminated. It is that simple.
I doubt any terrorist is saying, "Now that security has been relaxed, lets hijack another plane and fly it into a building." They now know for a fact that any unusual activity around a plane or airport will be met with deadly force. A boxcutter, knife, or gun will not be enough to take over a plane. We may have made that claim before but now we have proved it.
Listening to the democrats on the news say that this is the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place, and that our troops need to come home now, and that Bush lied to get us into war may lead people around the world to think that America isn't serious about fighting terrorism. Now, the whole world knows how serious the US is taking the war on terror.
I was impressed at how fast and thorough the air marshals were. I didn't expect that quick of a response. No standoff, no negotiating. It makes me wonder if the US is actually prepared to handle other threats just as well. We used to mock airport security for searching old people. Not anymore.
You have no basis for concluding the sky marshalls were negligent. They acted under ambiguous and difficult circumstances, they acted decisively, and an innocent man is dead. But their actions cannot be judged in hindsight, but according to the information they had at the time.
The guy was not obeying orders.
I am just glad they managed to get 5 bullets in his body so quickly. Next time, they need to get 50.