Man Shot Dead On American Airlines Plane

[chuchok]

08.12.05 10.10am UPDATE

MIAMI - An American Airlines passenger who claimed to be carrying a bomb was shot and killed by an air marshal while trying to flee a plane arriving from Medellin, Colombia, at Miami International Airport today.

"Shots were fired as the team attempted to subdue the subject," a US Department of Homeland Security spokesman said.

The passenger was a 44-year-old US citizen, the spokesman said.

A law enforcement official said "no device has been located at this time."

The incident took place as American Airlines flight 924 arrived from Medellin for a stopover in Miami en route to Orlando, Florida.

The DHS spokesman said the passenger indicated during the flight that there was a bomb in a carry-on bag and upon landing immediately exited the aircraft through the jetway ramp at Gate D42. Air marshals pursued and ordered the passenger to get down on the ground.

"The passenger then reached into his carry-on bag, at which point, consistent with air marshal training, the air marshals took the appropriate actions. Shots were fired as the team attempted to subdue the subject," the spokesman said.

American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith confirmed: "There was an incident on the jet bridge on one of our aircraft in Miami." The flight, a Boeing 757, arrived from Medellin, at 12:16pm (6.16am today NZT).The flight was due to leave for Orlando at 2:18pm.

This was thought to be the first time an air marshal has fired weapon on or near a plane, said Joseph Gutheinz, a former military pilot and attorney who has worked in aviation security.

"I believe this is the first time they've ever discharged a weapon. I am 100 per cent sure they have never had an incident like this before," he said.

A Miami International Airport spokesman said Concourse D had been evacuated but the incident did not affect incoming or outgoing flights. It was reopened shortly after 3pm.

NZ HERALD

[Tywais]

Testing security measures or suicide? Wierd.

[Soph]

Yep, saw that on the news this morning. Pretty weird - his wife was saying he's bi-polar

Must have been incredibly scary for all the passengers involved - jeez, if I had of been on that plane, I would probably been running up and down the isles freaking out as well!!! I hate flying in normal circumstances.

[zzap]

I believe this is the first time they've ever discharged a weapon.

[britmaveric]

Sad nut case. Lads had no choice - imagine if he'd hurt someone or worse yet really had a bomb.

[Jeff1]

DOCTOR , DOCTOR ! It hurts when I do that .

Doctor : Stop doing that .

[Rinrada]

08.12.05 10.10am UPDATE

killed by an air marshal while trying to flee a plane arriving from Medellin, Colombia, at Miami International Airport today.

The passenger was a 44-year-old US citizen..

A law enforcement official said "no device has been located at this time."

The incident took place as American Airlines flight 924 arrived from Medellin for a stopover in Miami

Spokesman said.... the passenger indicated during the flight that there was a bomb in a carry-on bag and upon landing immediately exited the aircraft

Bit of a conflicting report here.

He had just flown in from the drug capital of the world and..what... told everyone on the plane that he had a bomb in his bag? ON THE PLANE

So assuming the Air Marshals knew what did they think/say.....No problem Bruv.we will just wait until the aircraft lands and when you disembark we will pull you up over your suggestion that you may have a BOMB in your bag......and then maybe... blow you away....after you get off the thing.....

Admit the report also suggests that the guy was a bit unbalanced and had not taken his Happy Clappy pills...but....

[MilkPlus]

08.12.05 10.10am UPDATE

killed by an air marshal while trying to flee a plane arriving from Medellin, Colombia, at Miami International Airport today.

The passenger was a 44-year-old US citizen..

A law enforcement official said "no device has been located at this time."

The incident took place as American Airlines flight 924 arrived from Medellin for a stopover in Miami

Spokesman said.... the passenger indicated during the flight that there was a bomb in a carry-on bag and upon landing immediately exited the aircraft

Bit of a conflicting report here.

He had just flown in from the drug capital of the world and..what... told everyone on the plane that he had a bomb in his bag? ON THE PLANE

So assuming the Air Marshals knew what did they think/say.....No problem Bruv.we will just wait until the aircraft lands and when you disembark we will pull you up over your suggestion that you may have a BOMB in your bag......and then maybe... blow you away....after you get off the thing.....

Admit the report also suggests that the guy was a bit unbalanced and had not taken his Happy Clappy pills...but....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats not what happened.

He didnt fly in from Columbia, Im not sure what country but not columbia.

Rather than get into some huge debate the issue is real simple, if you're on a plane dont act like a freak. More than that dont run off a plane carrying a BACKPACK in front of you and then walk towards armed men telling you to get down on the ground while reaching in your bag....you will be SHOT, SHOT DEAD.

They dont shoot any other way, there is no "shoot him in the leg so we can interview him and start a 7 year psychotherapy process to determine if he is really just "bi-polar".

Imagine if the Passengers on the "Shoe Bombers" flight had said, "hey would someone go down and have a chat with that man lighting matches, we wouldnt wont to offend him by jumping his bones if hes really just INSANE".

Edited December 8, 2005 by MilkPlus

[Morden]

Not so long ago in London a policeman put, I think, seven bullets into a guy on a tube train. The Met. Chief of Police appeared on the television saying that the man was being followed from a house under surveillence by the anti-terrorist forces, was behaving suspiciously, when challenged leapt a barrier and ran for the train and failed to heed a warning to stop. So, the officer told the whole British nation, he was shot in order to prevent him from detonating a bomb.

In fact, we all learned later, the man walked normally from his flat to the train, walked normally through the ticket barrier, got on the train and sat down. Then a man in civilian clothes got onto the train, looked at the man in question and shouted to someone on the platform, 'That's him'. The person on the platform boarded the train approached the poor guy who stood up, probably wondering why two men in ordinary clothes were approaching him so aggressively. A gun was pointed at him, he was shot, fell to the floor and had a few more rounds pumped into him for good measure. He had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism.

Now, I'm not saying that something similar happened to the man on the plane, but let's wait a day or two before we make up our minds.

Edited December 8, 2005 by Morden

[cdnvic]

U.S. air marshal kills plane passenger

Last Updated Wed, 07 Dec 2005 18:36:46 EST

CBC News

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/200...ane-051207.html

An American man has been shot and killed by a U.S. air marshal at Miami International Airport after announcing on a plane that he had a bomb in his carry-on bag.

American Airlines plane at Miami International Airport, Wednesday.

Jim Bauer, a spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service, tried to downplay public anxiety spurred by the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, saying the incident on Wednesday afternoon appeared to be an "isolated" one.

"There's no reason to believe right now that there's a nexus to terrorism," Bauer told a news conference in Miami at about 6 p.m. EST, adding that the investigation was still in its early stages.

He said federal air marshals had been deployed after the shooting to airports through the country to watch for similar incidents but didn't spot any.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said it was the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, that an air marshal has fired a weapon in the line of duty.

Man reached into bag before shooting, police say

Officials said the man, identified as 44-year-old Rigoberto Alpizar, had flown in that morning from Ecuador.

He made the threat shortly after boarding American Airlines Flight 924, which stopped in Miami en route from Medellin, Colombia, to Orlando.

He told airplane staff that he had a bomb in his backpack, police authorities said.

A team of air marshals confronted him but the man ran down the stairs leading from the plane and across the tarmac.

They ordered him to the ground but the man instead reached into his bag. That's when he was shot.

Officials wouldn't say how many bullets had been fired.

They said police officers removed three pieces of luggage from the plane and blew them up, but no bomb was found.

Man may have been mentally ill, passengers say

Several witnesses said Alpizar had been acting strangely, running up the plane's aisle and shouting.

They speculated that the man might have had mental problems.

One passenger, Mary Gardner, told a Miami television station that the man ran toward the front of the plane.

"He was frantic, his arms flailing in the air," she told WTVJ.

She said a woman followed him, calling "My husband!" and told airplane officials that the man was bipolar and hadn't taken his medication.

Bauer and other officials declined to comment on the reports, including whether the man had a mental illness.

[MilkPlus]

Not so long ago in London a policeman put, I think, seven bullets into a guy on a tube train. The Met. Chief of Police appeared on the television saying that the man was being followed from a house under surveillence by the anti-terrorist forces, was behaving suspiciously, when challenged leapt a barrier and ran for the train and failed to heed a warning to stop. So, the officer told the whole British nation, he was shot in order to prevent him from detonating a bomb.

In fact, we all learned later, the man walked normally from his flat to the train, walked normally through the ticket barrier, got on the train and sat down. Then a man in civilian clothes got onto the train, looked at the man in question and shouted to someone on the platform, 'That's him'. The person on the platform boarded the train approached the poor guy who stood up, probably wondering why two men in ordinary clothes were approaching him so aggressively. A gun was pointed at him, he was shot, fell to the floor and had a few more rounds pumped into him for good measure. He had absolutely nothing to do with terrorism.

Now, I'm not saying that something similar happened to the man on the plane, but let's wait a day or two before we make up our minds.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was, and I think almost everyone was pretty shocked that Scotland Yard lied about almost every detail.

This is different, there have been plenty of witness confirming the guy ran off the plane with his back pack.

Its sad, but if you run off a plane or on to a plane and are told to drop it by Martials with guns you will be shot if you dont stop and drop.

Bi-polar or not.

Im sure if you are a loved one are on a plane you would not want them to set up an appointment with the SHOE BOMBER to determine his "psychological" status before taking action.

Theres tons of signage at the airports that say just JOKING about it will subject you to arrest. If anyone besides the man himself is to blame his wife is.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Never run from the man with the gun

[bdenner]

I believe the Marshalls have been suspended (with pay) from duty. A number of unanswered questions here. Interesting, BUT Thai related???

[cdnvic]

I believe the Marshalls have been suspended (with pay) from duty. A number of unanswered questions here. Interesting, BUT Thai related???

Half or more of this forum is general travel info and chatter.

cv

[cdnvic]

Wife chased husband before fatal shooting on plane

Last Updated Thu, 08 Dec 2005 14:00:27 EST

CBC News

A day after U.S. air marshals shot and killed a man on board a plane in Miami, witnesses on the plane told stories of a frightening and confusing scene.

Shocked passengers said shortly after boarding American Airlines Flight 924, 44-year-old Rigoberto Alpizar ran frantically down the plane's aisle, waving his arms and holding a bag.

Rigoberto Alpizar,right, and his wife, Anne Buechner. (AP Photo/Courtesy the Alpizar family)

Witnesses said Alpizar's wife, Anne, followed, shouting in Spanish that her husband was mentally ill and hadn't taken his medication. "My husband! My husband!," she reportedly yelled.

A man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a second man, both air marshals, followed her, passengers said.

Alpizar, who had arrived in Miami on a flight from Ecuador, died after being shot by air marshals as he ran on to a walkway connecting the plane to a terminal building.

James E. Bauer, spokesperson for the Federal Air Marshal Service field office in Miami, said that as Alpizar ran off the plane, he "uttered threatening words that included a sentence to the effect that he had a bomb."

Dave Adams, another air marshal's spokesman, said Alpizar was shot after refusing orders to drop his bag.

Officials wouldn't say how many shots were fired, but passengers reported hearing at least four.

Passenger Mike Beshears told CNN that flight attendants ran down the aisles, yelling for people to hit the floor

Witness Mary Gardner, told an ABC television station that she saw a "guy run through the aisle really quick and [his wife] running after. Then we heard shots, heard yelling, everybody screaming hit the deck."

Another passenger, Lucy Argote, said they had to stay on the plane for an hour before authorities allowed them to leave, with their hands behind their backs. Passengers had to leave their belongings behind as marshals searched the plane.

Officials later spread out all the luggage on the tarmac and brought in bomb-sniffing dogs. They blew up Alpizar's bags.

No bombs were found. There has been no official comment on whether the man was mentally ill.

A resident of Maitland, Fla., Alpizar moved to the U.S. from Costa Rica in 1986 and worked for Home Depot, according to CNN.

[Jai Dee]

Duplicated threads merged.

[penzman]

Why don t they ever shoot these people in the legs???

Same thing happened with some nutter with a machette in front of the White House a few years back... Guy was killed on the spot.

A bullet in the leg, cayenne pepper sray, will immobilize anyone instantly.

[OZONE]

Never run from the man with the gun

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unless his name is "ALbert queda"

[britmaveric]

why don't they shoot them in the legs?

Simple answer: Easier target head/chest (larger area) and if the lad does have a bomb can still detonate - normally go for a kill shot.

[think_too_mut]

why don't they shoot them in the legs?

Simple answer: Easier target head/chest (larger area) and if the lad does have a bomb can still detonate - normally go for a kill shot.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There is no simple answer.

Some love death as much as we love life.

That's what "they" said.

Their way or no way.

[Rinrada]

Me thinks these John Wayne lookalikes got it wrong.

Couple of Top Guns in the Smoke confronted and "took out" a guy called..Harry S. a few years ago thinking he was carrying a shotgun.

Turned out it was a wooden chair leg.

Scene later in Court..

But you Honour (judge) it looked just like a Big Shotgun he was carrying like ..so us being Highly Trained Specialist Marksment from the ELITE "we never get it wrong battalion"..we had no option to blast him off the face of the planet.....your honour. ...didnt we John...yea..

Coz we have got the badges to prove it..that we are experts like...yea...and how could we tell that he was only carrying a table leg.......

[cdnvic]

This guy actually said he had a bomb. If I were on a plane and a guy's yelling that he has a bomb and is reaching inside his jacket I hope the air marshall, if they're on board, isn't worrying about what the politically correct way to disarm him without causing anyone offense is.

cv

[penzman]

Looks like the man never said a word before being shot...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...ack=1&cset=true

Man killed on flight may have been scared

Several passengers say they didn't hear anything about bomb

By Mark Schlueb, Tribune Newspapers: Orlando Sentinel. Maya Bell, Henry Pierson Curtis, April Hunt, Beth Kassab, Robert Perez and Christopher Sherman of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report

Published December 9, 2005

ORLANDO -- Rigoberto Alpizar may have just been scared.

As more details emerged about Wednesday's anxious moments aboard American Airlines Flight 924 in Miami, it became increasingly apparent that the man killed by air marshals may have been fleeing in panic as he suffered the symptoms of bipolar disorder.

To grieving relatives, two air marshals acted rashly and an innocent man died--one who at least seven passengers said they never heard yelling about a bomb.

"With all the advances that the U.S. has supposedly made in their war against terrorism, I can't conceive that the marshals wouldn't be able to overpower an unarmed, single man, especially knowing he had already cleared every security check," Carlos Alpizar said Thursday of his brother's death.

"I will never accept that it was necessary to kill him as if he was some dangerous criminal," he said in a phone interview from Costa Rica. "And I want to make this distinction: He did not die. He was killed."

But to federal authorities and security experts, Alpizar--mentally ill or not--was responsible for his own death.

"This threat presented itself, and we believe it was necessary to use deadly force. ... There's no time in making these split-second decisions to analyze their mental health," said James Bauer, special agent in charge of the Federal Air Marshal Service's Miami field office.

Police in Miami-Dade County are investigating what is quickly becoming the most closely scrutinized day in the Air Marshal Service's history.

Ran for the exit

Here's how the event unfolded, according to witnesses and police:

Alpizar, who worked at a Home Depot in east Orange County, and his wife were among the last to board the American Airlines Boeing 757 bound for Orlando International Airport. They had arrived in Miami about two hours earlier on a flight from Ecuador.

A few minutes before takeoff, Alpizar ran for the exit, jostling other passengers in the aisle.

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 toward 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 Borrelli, who helped comfort Alpizar's wife after the gunfire. "He never said a word from the point he passed me at row nine, eight rows out the door. 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 Anne Buechner, his wife, who at first seemed embarrassed by the hasty exit. She started to follow him off the plane, saying, "He's sick. He needs to get off the plane," witnesses said.

But she had forgotten her bag and turned back to retrieve it. That is when passengers heard yelling from the jetway.

Investigators say that two undercover air marshals followed Alpizar off the plane and ordered him to surrender. 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.

"I heard very clearly, `Stop!' and about four to six gunshots," Borrelli said. "At that point the flight attendants started screaming, `Get down! Get down!'"

Buechner turned back toward the front of the aircraft and tried to get to her husband. But another passenger -- a doctor -- restrained her, with help from Borrelli and a flight attendant.

"She was saying, `My husband's sick. He's sick. He's bipolar. He didn't take his medicine. It was my fault. I made him get on the plane. You know, we just came from a medical mission. Oh, my God, they've killed my husband!'" Borrelli said.

"And she said to the small group of us kind of huddled around her, holding her, that--I believe she said--that he feared there was a bomb on the plane. ... I think he was having a panic attack."

Buechner--whom police interviewed through the night, both at the airport and their headquarters -- told investigators her husband had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder 10 to 12 years ago and had recently stopped taking his medication.

It is an illness characterized by severe mood swings, from lows that could be plagued with suicidal thoughts or lethargy, to highs that can include delusions or psychosis. Yet despite the dramatic symptoms of the disease, mental health experts said a person with bipolar disorder can lead a normal life with medication and therapy.

Family members help

Family members picked up Buechner and drove her to her home, in Maitland, early Thursday morning. Later, her brother and sister, Steven Buechner and Jeanne Jentsch, were mobbed by media when they emerged to read a brief statement.

"Rigo Alpizar was a loving, gentle and caring husband, uncle, brother, son and friend. He was born in Costa Rica and became a proud American citizen several years ago. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him," Jentsch said.

She declined to answer questions and asked the many reporters to leave.

By late Thursday, detectives had interviewed more than 100 witnesses to Wednesday's incident.

The names of the two marshals were withheld, but a spokesman for the agency said both joined the service in 2002. One has four years of experience as a Border Patrol officer and speaks fluent Spanish. The other officer had two years' experience as a U.S. Customs inspector.

Air marshals' training includes a course, Managing Abnormal Behavior, that deals with mental illness. But spokesman Dave Adams said even if the marshals aboard Flight 924 had known of Alpizar's condition, it probably wouldn't have changed anything.

Former U.S. Atty. Gerry Leone, who prosecuted shoe bomber Richard Reid, agreed, saying Alpizar's mental state is not a deciding factor in assessing the risk he posed.

"On one level it doesn't matter," Leone said. "Let's say the air marshal who drew his weapon and fired knew he was bipolar. It doesn't mean he would not have had a bomb."

Alpizar's family doesn't buy that explanation. All they have is questions, and grief.

"He was not someone who would disrespect the law," sister-in-law Violeta Castro O'Sullivan said from Costa Rica. "He was a loving, terrific human being that would have never even thought of hurting anyone. I think in the end it will be clear that a fatal mistake was made. One that is going to take us years to recover from."

[Tywais]

This guy actually said he had a bomb. If I were on a plane and a guy's yelling that he has a bomb and is reaching inside his jacket I hope the air marshall, if they're on board, isn't worrying about what the politically correct way to disarm him without causing anyone offense is.

cv

I agree. For those that think the "John Wayne" approach of shooting them in the leg should be used are not being realistic. If he had a bomb the only guarantee to stop it is by lethal force. There is a BIG difference between a guy wielding a machete and someone with his finger on a button.

Edited December 10, 2005 by tywais

[Butterfly]

This guy actually said he had a bomb. If I were on a plane and a guy's yelling that he has a bomb and is reaching inside his jacket I hope the air marshall, if they're on board, isn't worrying about what the politically correct way to disarm him without causing anyone offense is.

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nope. Wrong.

He said "Bomb" because he thought there was a bomb in the plane and was trying to leave in full panic. He got shot by the idiot cop.

Edit: Other reports are saying now he didn't say anything. Those cops are not even trained properly. This is what happened when you try to rush measures without due process. A huge mess and more to come. The War on Terror is a total failure anyhow.

Edited December 10, 2005 by Butterfly

[lomatopo]

I just wanted to add a few comments:

1.) The flight number, AA924, originated in Medellin, Columbia.

2.) The passenger who was killed arrived from Quito, Ecuador

3.) All international arriving passengers must clear immigration and customs in Miami.

4.) All connecting passengers, that is those making onward domestic flights, need to clear TSA security.

So Rigoberto Alpizar would have had to clear the TSA checkpoint prior to boarding the flight from Miami (MIA) to Orlando (MCO).

Further I am certain that it was a different aircraft used for MIA-MCO than was used for MDE-MIA or UIO-MIA.

Note that a TSA security checkpoint is very, very thorough. These are much, much different than security checkpoints in Asia. Shoes come off and get x-rayed, laptops come out of the bag and get x-rayed, all coats and jackets need to be removed and x-rayed. I have a belt with an incredibly small buckle. It set off the walk-through metal-detector last week when departing the U.S. and required a secondary screening (wand, pat-down, bag search) (Note that this same belt has not caused the same problem in NRT, BKK, SIN, FRA, MUC, KUL.)

There is no way this guy could have gotten through with anything even remotely looking like a bomb, nor with any type of actual explosive. It is not possible and the Federal Air Marshalls (FAMs) (surprising there were two on MIA-ORD?) should have factored this in to their decision prior to using deadly force. It is standard procedure for those involved in a deadly force incident to be put on administrative leave, with pay, pending the outcome of an investigation. I imagine the FBI and Miami-Dade police will both be involved in the investigation.

Also it should be interesting to hear more about the FAMs and their duty cycles. I am curious to know if they worked an overnight flight into MIA from South/Latin-America the night before this incident.

It sounds like Mr. Alpizar freaked out and wanted to get off the plane. In his haste to exit the aircraft he probably bumped in to many people. I can easily imagine another passenger also freaking out and yelled out something about a bomb? And then things went from bad to worse in 60 seconds. Thank goodness there wasn’t a family walking down the jet-way at the time.

Mr. Alpizar was a dual-citizen resident of the U.S. (and Ecuador), and had a good job in the Orlando area. I’ve got to believe he could speak and understand English.

It will be interesting to see the videotape of Mr. Alpizar clearing the TSA checkpoint prior to boarding his flight to MCO, especially if he was subject to a secondary screening.

They may say that he could have had a checked bag in the cargo hold, which could have contained a bomb, and that all he really needed was some sort of remote detonating device (mobile phone for example), which might have passed unnoticed through the TSA check-point?

I think all passenger checked bags, but not necessarily all cargo, gets passed through a CTX-like x-ray/bomb-scanning machine for flights departing from, and going to, the U.S., but I am not 100% certain about this.

[lomatopo]

And a few more thoughts/comments…

(Note that I fly ~ 100,000 miles each year on U.S.-based legacy carriers and many of these flights have FAMs. On domestic flights they are pretty obvious; I am the first one on the plane and there are already two 30 year old trim and fit men seated in first class. On int’l flights I sit on the lower deck of a 747 and FAMs are always on the upper deck so I do not notice or see them.))

AFAIK, A passenger has the right to leave the airplane at any time prior to departure as long as a door remains open.

FAMs fly ‘undercover’ and are not necessarily recognizable to the average traveler.

There are no instructions regarding FAMs either during boarding or as part of the safety announcement (…”you must obey all crew member’s instructions, lighted signs and placards…”)

So it’s easy to imagine a scenario where I want to leave the plane. It doesn’t matter what my reasons are (although I probably should inform a cabin crew member or ground staff of my action and reason). I am in a hurry because I need to get some medicine, find a family member, make an urgent telephone call, retrieve my passport which I left at the counter…As I am running (because I still want to get back on this flight) it is very noisy. There is a man running after me. He is dressed in a Hawaiin print shirt and is yelling something. I think he is crazy. I do not know about FAM’s. Now there are two guys running after me. Why are they yelling “Stop”? Who are they yelling at? I have my briefcase with me, it slips out of my hand and I grab at it. The next thing I hear are shots, and I’m dead.

I can imagine these FAMs quickly realized they might have erred. I bet their first words were, "Uh Oh". Under other circumstances they would throw down a spare gun (“throw-down piece”), and claim the victim had a gun and was going to shoot them, They probably don’t carry throw-downs so they came up with the best threat they could. They remembered the shoe-bomber so they came up with the bomb threat. Of course they didn’t think through this very far, forgetting that there is no way the victim could have gotten through security with a bomb.

[britmaveric]

Naught will happen to Air Marshals - they did what they had to do - and I applaud them for their actions. If they hadnt done it - most likely be crucifying them for not shooting the lad because of a present danger to the crew, passangers, plane and airport. It's unfortunate but one has to take flying very serious and be on your best behaviour or shi*e will happen. Running up the aisles like a mad man is dangerous behaviour.

[zzap]

Running up the aisles

...is a dangerous activity?

The 'thread of terrorism' is a poor excuse for people to throw their good judgement out of the window and condone state terrorism against innocent suspects.

And aren't the cowboys lying? "He did say he had a bomb, gov, and I thought I heard it ticking in his bag..." But lying presumably is part of the job to protect the public, I guess?

[opothai]

this will no doubt happen again, and maybe the people who complain about the deaths of so far to my knowledge possibly 2 innocent people.

they might get thier way amd reverse this shoot to kill policy adopted by some governments.

and it will take one misjudgement and if the person under scrutiny is an actual terrorist then how many could he potentially kill.

unfortunate as things are i personally think the policy is correct at the moment, and there will be innocent people killed by either side. this is the world we live in.