The man, Rigoberto Alpizar, 44, who reportedly resides in Central Florida, claimed to have a bomb inside his carry-on. He was shot and killed when he refused orders to get on the ground, instead reaching inside his bag.
His wife claims he was mentally ill and had not taken his medication.
Federal Air Marshal spokesman David Adams recounted reports that the passenger argued with his wife during the Medellin-Miami leg of the flight, Herald news partner WFOR-CBS4 broadcast.Miami Herald
Authorities have exploded three pieces of luggage on the tarmac next to Gate D nearby the evacuated American Airlines flight 924 from Medellin, Colombia to Orlando.
Homeland Security spokesman, Brian Doyle said,
It was the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks that an air marshal had shot at anyone.Raw Story
Luggage was spread across the tarmac to allow bomb-sniffing dogs to investigate.
I’m watching out of the corner of my eye various local TV news broadcasts. Some are showing live video of a man in heavy gear crouching next to a bag. Previously I watched as a bag was blown to smithereens on the rain-wet tarmac. It and this
one appear to be carry-on type luggage.
The last time I watched luggage get “offed” was in the international terminal awaiting my flight from Paris after a month of uneventful pleasure. At that time, while the gendarmes were dead serious about exploding unattended luggage, the other officials who were keeping us safely back from the action were making jokes about ladies underwear flying through the air.
It’s not the wise thing to speculate about at this time, but I have a sinking feeling that this is probably a tragic mistake.
First official word from news conference @ 6:00PM EST summarized:
Jame E Bauer, Spe. Agent in Charge did most of the talking. (I paraphrase as close to direct quoting as possible.)
Incident occurred at 2:10 PM. The victim was confronted by A.M, remained non-compliant, shots fired. He is deceased.
FBI has jurisdiction to determine if terrorist nexus exists.
Deceased’s effects were examined and no explosives were found.
No reason to believe terrist-linked; an isolated event.
Bobby Parker, Dir. M/Dade Police:
Airline and baggage are secure.
Back to SA Bauer:
Man flew out from Quito, Ecuador this morning. Cleared custome here in Miami. He was holding a backpack when he uttered threat that he had a bomb. Believed to be traveling with his wife.
Andy Apolleny, FBI:
I don’t see nexus to terrorism. Incident began inside the aircraft. No comments to question how many shots fired.
Back to SA Bauer:
When asked what is the protocol for AMs to shoot, said, “Not going to crawl into the law books right now.”
Two AMs assigned to flight.
When asked if man made threat in English or Spanish, no answer.
(X-posted Daily Kos)
Lots of questions hurled at officials went unanswered as investigation not complete, facts not known. That’s all.
This is nothing more than the result of Terrorist Hysteria. This guy may not have even said he had a bomb. He might have screamed “Please don’t shoot! i don’t have a bomb” Upon hearing the word bomb the testorone inflicted “expert agents, the professional security appattus, trained at the Julliard school of terrorist prevention immediately shot the man.
This is more madness.
Look. There hasn’t been a terrorist attack since 2001 for a good reason. There really aren’t very many terrorists and those that are, are interested in LOCAL EVENTS. They are not interested in coming to the U.S.
There is no Al Queda. I’m sorry. There are just disparate groups who obviously don’t have the money, the interest, the capacity or the support to launch another attack.
volunteer work with some dentists with one of their uncles, don’t recall if it was his or hers, or if it was with Dentists without Borders or a similar org.
His widow’s work includes working with companies regarding conditions and rights of workers with physical and mental problems.
I watched Fox’s coverage on purpose, knowing that if he had done so much as studied Arabic in the 7th grade or told a Bush joke at a bar, they would be all over it.
They said his wife screamed at the gunmen that he was a bi-polar person without his meds. They called it an unfortunate incident like Amadou Djiallo.
I am sorry to say I do not think Rigoberto will be the last to be martyred in this fashion.
Feel safer now?
A good point upthread: Even the official story reads bad–the marshals are plainly in shoot-first mode, and anything can set them off.
This charade is so absurd on so many levels, there is just no way to sort it out. Why do the airlines go for this stuff? Can it really be good for business? And what kind of “law enforcement” models do we have here? Are cops really just psychopaths who have found a way to get paid for committing the murders they would like to do anyway? No? But their training assumes that killing is the whole point.
And so on.