I guess he should have stopped.
Posted on 12/09/2005 12:28:29 PM PST by MRMEAN
..., it became increasingly apparent that the Maitland man killed by federal air marshals may have been fleeing in panic as he suffered the symptoms of bipolar disorder.
--SNIP--
A Miami-Dade police spokeswoman said Thursday that multiple witnesses reported that the 44-year-old was yelling that he had a bomb as he made his way down the aisle with a backpack slung across his chest. Later, the agency's chief of investigations insisted that Alpizar was yelling about a bomb but declined to say whether he was on the plane at the time.
Seven passengers interviewed by the Orlando Sentinel -- seated in both the front and rear of the main passenger cabin -- said Alpizar was silent as he ran past them on his way to the exit. One thought he had taken the wrong flight. Another thought he was going to throw up.
"I can tell you, he never said a thing in that airplane. He never called out he had a bomb," said Orlando architect Jorge A. Borrelli, who helped comfort Alpizar's wife after the gunfire. "He never said a word from the point he passed me at Row 9. . . . He did not say a word to anybody."
Two teens seated in Row 26 agreed. So did Jorge Figueroa, a power-plant operator from Lakeland seated a few rows behind first class.
"He wasn't saying anything; he was just running," Figueroa said. "I said to myself, 'It is probably a person who took the wrong plane.' "
What Alpizar's fellow passengers did hear were the desperate explanations from Buechner, Alpizar's wife, who at first seemed embarrassed by her husband's hasty exit. She started to follow him off the plane, saying, "He's sick. He needs to get off the plane," witnesses said.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Every report from the very beginning has consistently reported that. The Monday morning quarterbacks, usually as dumb as bricks, can now come up with a gazillion scenarios where the nutcase was right and the Air Marshalls wrong. Screw 'em.
If the nutjob was off his meds, and if his wifes cared that much for him, she would not have allowed him to travel unmedicated!
D'OH!
Alpizar was not a threat to the passengers when he was shot
He was a threat to the Sky Marshals and to others based on the power of any bomb he might have. I don't think the passengers would like being roasted alive any more than being blown up.
I'm with you man. And this was driven home when I saw the luggage being conveniently destroyed on the tarmac...
We're gonna have to disagree on this one.
Any aircraft that has made a single stop on foreign soil needs to have its occupants screened/observed more closely.
Bottom line is that the media has latched onto the guy's instability as a reason for calling the shooting unjustified, when in reality that has no bearing on the Marshal's split-second decision to shoot in an attempt to thwart a perceived threat.
Since that is where the action took place, that is probably where those words were said. The passengers would not have heard that. When a police officer says stop, stop.
Should this work there will be Muslim women accompanying hijackers and bombers to put air marshals off.
I agree with you.
I've read where people say he should get a medal.
Huh?
Since when do we give medals to law enforcement when they shoot a mentally disturbed man?
I don't know if the shooting was justified but in the end, the dead guy didn't deserve death.
That is the achilles heal and why his disembarking the plane is dangerous sign regardless of what he said. Planes that have had luggage placed on them when passengers have left has caused flights to be stopped while the baggage has been rechecked.
Well, there were no apparent connections. Theoretically, the screaming man could have been a distraction to get the Marshals off the plane so that any one of the other passengers could detonate a device. So should they have dragged everyone out? The one guy posed a threat so the one guy should have had a gun to his head.
My question is - Why would his wife make him get on the plane, when she knew his medical condition and that he hadn't had his meds?
Followed him off the aircraft? What if this was a actual terrorist operation with multiple suspects, some of which could have still been on board when the Marshal's left the aircraft. After all, it would not be the first time multiple terrorist were on board on of our aircraft.
The marshals say Alpizar yelled that he had a bomb and would use it. He walked toward them, they backed up, he started to put his hands in his backpack, and they fired. Alpizar was hit by multiple shots fired by both officers.
Why didn't they shoot him when he yelled out he had a bomb? They waited while he walked towards them? They backed up? Seems to me they would have shot him as soon as the word "bomb" was yelled out. There were also reports that stated they told him to put his pack down. How would one put their pack down, without reaching for it first?
Since logic is not your strong suit let's review.
You know now that the nutcase was a mentally disturbed man. Mohammad Atta was a mentally disturbed man.
At the time the air marshalls shot and killed an imminent threat, neither they not anyone other than his wife knew for a fact that he mas mentally ill.
See the difference?
They are. 100% must depart the aircraft, then pass through immigrations and customs. From that point, they are placed on the street side of the airport. If they have a connecting flight, they have to pass through security at that airport.
I don't know what the protocol is for screening aircraft that comes in from foreign countries; but the people are all required to exit.
And this guy did not arrive in the USA on that plane. He arrived on a flight from Equador.
Bottom line is that the media has latched onto the guy's instability as a reason for calling the shooting unjustified, when in reality that has no bearing on the Marshal's split-second decision to shoot in an attempt to thwart a perceived threat.
Instability is a factor in favor of shooting, not against it. Agitated people are more likely to perpetrate violence. I think the guy's agitated state reinforced the decision to shoot, accompanied by not following orders, and according to the official report, expressing a verbal threat that could be taken as a threat to detonate a bomb.
Hindsight is 20/20. In the eyes of the air marshal, and in the time given, this man was ARMED with a bomb.
Perhaps you are unaware of the modus operandi of a suicide bomber: Suicide bombers attract attention in order to take out as many people as possible when they detonate their bomb. Anyone attempting arrest or search gets taken out with the bomb.
Hey, why don't you sign up for air marshall training and volunteer for the suicide-bomber search squad? You won't because no one in their right mind would get within 20 feet of a suicide bomber or a potential suicide bomber.
uh MAYBE?
Well, we disagree. That's fine with me.
susie
Why would they want to attract attention to themselves prior to executing their mission? Why not just walk quietly into a crowded area and execute?
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