Man shot in Miami airport incident

Man shot in Miami airport incident
RTE (Ireland)

There are reports that a man has been shot by a US Air Marshal on an American Airlines flight at Miami International Airport. AA Flight 924 had just arrived from the Colombian city of Medellin when the man was shot on the jetway linking the plane to the terminal at the airport.

Police only confirmed that shots had been fired and gave no details of casualties or who had opened fire.

Officials said the passenger had bragged about having a bomb [get your version out first!] and was shot as he put a hand into a bag. CNN television reported the man was a 44-year-old US citizen and that no bomb had been found.

Police and SWAT intervention teams immediately surrounded the plane, which had been due to fly on to the city of Orlando in Florida. It was the most serious incident reported on a US jet since the air marshal system was strengthened after the 11 September 2001 attacks.

I heard about this earlier today... Supposedly, he had a bomb? Can that be confirmed?

Air marshal kills passenger, citing threat
The Conservative Voice & AP

An agitated passenger who claimed to have a bomb in a carry-on bag 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 in the bag, a U.S. official said. {snip}

So no bomb... but he was stupid enough to tell them that he did... so no fault by the air marshall..

Of course... if there are 'terrorists' out there, this could have been a test to see what has changed since 9/11...

I'm not saying this is the case or it isn't - but remember the lessons of Jean Charles de Menezes - "bulky coat", "running", "wires", "vaulted the ticket barrier", "was warned" etc. Many of those claims came not only from the cops, but from 'witnesses' at the scene.

According to what I saw on the news, the guy was trying to leave the plane after a fight with his wife (it hadn't taken off yet), and he threatened the air marshals that told him to sit down by saying he had a bomb, so he couold get through. They shot him when he reached into the bag. There were 4 or 5 shots fired. Accoridng to his wife, he was on physche meds that he hadn't taken that day.

Eyewitness: "I Never Heard the Word 'Bomb'"
Time

A passenger on Flight 924 gives his account of the shooting and says Rigoberto Alpizar never claimed to have a bomb

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."

They said last night that afterwards, they took everyone off the plane and investigated them like they might be accomplaces, using the crazy guy as an accomplace to a real bombing.