Air Marshal Kills Passenger, Citing Threat

[samsungster]

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MIAMI - 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 boarding for takeoff, officials said. No bomb was found.

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. Another federal official said there was no apparent link to terrorism.

According to a witness, the passenger 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, identified as Rigoberto Alpizar, 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.

Alpizar, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen, was gunned down on a jetway outside the American Airlines plane, which was parked at a gate at Miami International Airport. Alpizar had arrived earlier in the day from Quito, Ecuador, and Flight 924 was going to Orlando, near his home in Maitland.

Relatives said Alpizar and his wife had been on a working vacation in Peru. A neighbor who said he had been asked to watch the couple's home described the vacation as a missionary trip.

"We're all still in shock. We're just speechless," a sister-in-law, Kelley Beuchner, said by telephone from her home in Milwaukee.

The shooting occurred shortly after 2 p.m. as Flight 924 was about to take off for Orlando with the man and 119 other passengers and crew, American spokesman Tim Wagner 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.

Federal officials declined to say how many times Alpizar was shot, or reveal how many air marshals were on the plane.

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."

Alpizar's brother-in-law, Steven Beuchner, said he was a native of Costa Rica, and met Beuchner's sister, Anne, when she was an exchange student there. Relatives said the couple had been married about two decades.

Neighbors described Alpizar as a pleasant man who worked in the paint department of a home-supply store and spent his spare time tending to the lawn of his ranch-style house. Many found it incomprehensible that he could have made a bomb threat.

"He was a nice guy, always smiling, always talkative," Louis Gunther said. "Everybody is talking about a guy I know nothing about."

Alex McLeod, 16, who lives three houses from the Alpizars, said: "This whole neighborhood is shocked. ... Totally uncharacteristic of the guy."

No one answered the door Wednesday evening at the Alpizars' modest, four-bedroom house on a tree-lined street in suburban Orlando. A car was in the driveway, and television crews milled about.

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.

Marshals fly undercover, and which planes they're on is a closely guarded secret. Until Wednesday, no marshal had fired a weapon, though they had been involved in scores of incidents.

Rep. John Mica (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla., who as chairman of the House aviation subcommittee was involved in the expansion of the air marshal service, called Wednesday's shooting "an unfortunate incident."

"Everyone's on edge because we view the biggest threat as explosives, or bombs," he said.

[PissKhanXXX]

sad case, that is.Â* the reality is, air marshalls could only play safeguard by suppressing the threat before the threat comes into real play.Â* protocols have been preset to cater for these sorts of incidents and have to be followed by the dot. as the saying goes, "prevention is better than cure". with precious lives involved, threat suppression is the way to go while you get the chance to; leave it till a split-second later and you might not get the chance to.

all in a day's work...

[SPRINGFIELD_XD_40]

Exactly ... I will do the same thing what the Air Marshall did . By claiming of something that will endanger the lives of many is an act of terrorism already .

[vern]

Why is this such a big deal? They were trained to do just what they did. Suppose that it was a real threat and they didn't do their job? I want to meet the marshal who shot and give him a big pat on the shoulder and tell him thank you for doing your job.

Note to self: Do not run around inside a plane yelling you have a bomb.

[Beetlebum]

It's a big deal because an innocent man suffering bipolar died. The wife was yelling he was sick and bipolar to everybody on the plane including to the federal agents in the plane and on the ground. There are also different accounts whether the man even screamed he had a bomb. In the end, the marshalls did the what they had to do, but there should still be thorough investigation to determine if there was something else that could have been done.

[vern]

Are you implying that air marshalls are to speculate on what disease people might have before taking action? An investigation is done when things don't add up right. What happened did add up right as they were trained to do. It's sad to see a man die, but if anyone is at fault, it is his dumbass wife for having him board a flight without taking medication she knew he needed (the details of his disease are still unclear, and all we have is his wife's word). I'd hate to see air marshalls hesitate for fear of an investigation of a situation they were trained to act in. It is very easy to cry wrongdoing when they aren't in the middle of a situation.

"US Marines! Put your weapons down! We know you fired at us and you act like a terrorist, but we can't fire back because you might be a psycho and this isn't really your fault! Maybe you just need a hug!" ... yes I'm sure the marshalls have time to think all that through. People love security in their homes and in public as long as it doesn't rock their perceived reality.

[Beetlebum]

Wow. You read way too much into my post. I was just making an arguement why its a big deal since you asked.

Its a big deal because:
1) the man didn’t have any explosives
2) the wife was yelling to everyone in the plane (including air marshals) that he was sick and bipolar
3) there is no agreement among witnesses whether he yelled bomb or not

I’m assuming you read my post and still don’t think it’s a big deal. That’s fine. For me, I would like to think if an innocent man died it would be a big deal from the US Air Marshall, which they think it is too.

I always thought there is an automatic investigation when someone dies(maybe its not like that in the US, my apoligies). The government will conduct a probe to check whether the proper protocols were followed or not. (Even though the wife told them he was sick, that could be a terrorist tactic...who knows?) -- it would be interesting to hear how the Air Marshalls respond to the wife's outrage.

It's sad to see a man die, but if anyone is at fault, it is his dumbass wife for having him board a flight without taking medication she knew he needed...

Have some sympathy man, they were married for 20 years. She probably saw him shot and killed. People forget their medication, I'm sure in retrospect she feel's terrible forgetting his medication. This tragedy will haunt her the rest of her life.

...(the details of his disease are still unclear, and all we have is his wife's word). I'd hate to see air marshalls hesitate for fear of an investigation of a situation they were trained to act in. It is very easy to cry wrongdoing when they aren't in the middle of a situation.

the wife was in the middle of situation, the authorities should investigate whether he really was bipolar. again i'm not saying the killing wasn't valid, all i'm saying there should be an investigation....where is the harm in that?

"US Marines! Put your weapons down! We know you fired at us and you act like a terrorist, but we can't fire back because you might be a psycho and this isn't really your fault! Maybe you just need a hug!" ... yes I'm sure the marshalls have time to think all that through.

haha

Based on what I read, the killing seems justified: there was report he had a bomb, he refused to obey the commands of the authorities, and in the final moments of his death he tried to reach something in his backpack (which he was carrying the front of his chest and happens to be common among terrorist)

The only thing that bothers me there is no unanimous agreement among those inside the plane whether the guy yelled he had a bomb or not (which is kind of weird because what kind of terrorist yells that he has a bomb, don’t they just pull the trigger).

[lindsay]

the air marshalls did the right thing. the wife knows he had bipolar disease. so why didn't she make him take his medication.

[Spec-V]

@Beetlebum - to much analysis...bai. Invesitgation is done. Psychotic or not - dont pull a prank like that.

[fingolfin]

.... all the blame is on the wife. Knowing her husband's condition, she should have taken extra precaution.