Sad Story, did the man really had said that he has a bomb? (moral, choice)

[greatcalgarian]

A man who claimed to have a bomb on board an American Airlines plane in Miami has been shot dead by US air marshals, officials say.

Rigoberto Alpizar, a 44-year-old US citizen, was killed in the air bridge after running out of the plane pursued by marshals who had broken their cover



"At some point, he uttered threatening words that included a sentence to the effect that he had a bomb," said Miami Federal Air Marshals official James Bauer.

"There were federal air marshals on board the aircraft. They came out of their cover, confronted him, and he remained noncompliant with their instructions.

"As he was attempting to evade them, his actions caused the FAMs to fire shots, and in fact he is deceased."

Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Joanna Gonzalez said Mr Alpizar had fled from the aircraft through the air bridge going toward the terminal.

"At that point, he appeared to be reaching into his carry-on bag... the air marshals took the appropriate action and that's when the shots were fired," she added.

'Hysteria'

Mary Gardner, a fellow passenger, told local television that the man had run frantically down the aisle of the Boeing 757 screaming while his wife tried to explain he was ill.

"I did hear the lady say her husband was bi-polar and had not had his medication," she said. "I saw the woman... she was hysterical."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4508432.stm

[Bishka]

Sad stuff.

[Pardus]

Another pointless death because of a culture of fear.

[The Black Whirlwind]

sad, very sad.

[Engyo]

Moral - if you are on medication for any sort of bipolar, schizoid, or other similar issue, and you have a plane ticket, MAKE SURE YOU TAKE YOUR MEDICATION!!!!!

[Ardent Listener]

Very sad. What would had been even sadder though would have been if he did have a bomb and the air marshals were not there or had failed to act to stop him from setting it off. I was not there so I don't know if the shooting was justified or not. But from what I read and see on television about the situation, it appears it was.

Some people are criticizing the air marshals for not shooting him in the shoulder or leg inorder to just stop him. I took police training and know that if you must shoot, you shoot to kill. This is because your chances of hitting an innocent person is greatly increased by not aiming for the trunk of the body or being shot yourself. I know that on television the cops can shoot the gun out of the hands of the bad guys. It is time though for us to develope a stun gun that could be used in situations such as this.

I have a family member who has a mental illness. Of course, I would not want something like this to happen to him. Like I said, "very sad."

[bartdanr]

I agree...very sad. But it's easy to second-guess and to criticize the actions of the Air Marshalls. Although there should be a thourough investigation (as in all police shootings), I feel that if I was confronted by someone who said that they had a bomb, they ran away screaming, and there were a lot of innocent people standing around, I would try to stop the man, with leathal means if necessary. I would make that same choice, every time.

Peace

[Darkdale]

Well, this certainly makes me feel safer. Now everyone knows what happens to people who threaten to blow up a bomb on a plane. Poor guy though, being out of his mind. I'm willing to bet he had no idea what he was doing at the time. Sounds to me like he simply fell apart. But, still the marshalls should be congratulated for their excellent service.

[Sunstone]

The Federal Air Marshalls have seldom used their weapons, so I don't think anyone can accuse them of being trigger happy. This seems to be an isolated tragedy.

[Jaymes]

Poor guy. But what else can you do when someone says they have a bomb?