Posted on 12/07/2005 1:57:21 PM PST by Graybeard58
MIAMI -- A passenger who claimed to have a bomb in a carry-on bag was shot and killed by a federal air marshal today on a jetway connected to an American Airlines plane that had arrived from Colombia, officials said.
Cable News Network reported the deceased is a 44-year-old U.S. citizen. A law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed shots were fired from the marshal's gun. The airline said the confrontation was on a jetway.
A second federal law enforcement official, who also spoke only on condition of anonymity because the investigation still was unfolding, said the incident followed a threatening comment made by a passenger. According to CNN, the passenger was moving aggressively through the cabin and had made the statement that he had a bomb in his carry-on bag.
A witness said the man frantically ran down the aisle and a woman with him said he was mentally ill.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said after the plane had parked at the gate, a passenger indicated there was a bomb in the bag. The passenger was confronted by air marshals but ran off the plane, Doyle said.
A team of air marshals pursued and ordered the passenger to get on the ground. The passenger did not comply and was shot when apparently reaching into the bag, Doyle said.
Passenger Mary Gardner told WTVJ 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 and had not had his medication.
The plane, Flight 924, had just arrived from Medellin, Colombia, and was headed on to Orlando.
Airport and Miami-Dade County police officials said they had no immediate comment. American Airlines officials confirmed the shooting was on a jetway.
"All I know is that it was on the jet bridge, outside the aircraft," American spokesman Tim Wagner said. "I don't know yet if the passenger had been on the plane and was getting off, or was starting to board the aircraft."
Flight 924 arrived at Miami airport at 12:16 p.m. Eastern and was scheduled to depart at 2:18 p.m., Wagner said. He said the shooting happened shortly after 2 p.m., suggesting passengers may have already been preparing to depart for Orlando.
Martin Gonzalez, spokesman for Colombia's civil aviation agency, said the flight "left normally with no problems."
Send her the bill then, she's liable.
Were they TRYING to cause an incident? Where was the medicine...baggage? The marshals did the right thing.
*rolling eyes*
Shouldn't they perhaps have wondered how he got the aleged "bomb" through security?
OTOH, shouldn't his wife have made sure he was medicated to the gills before he went to get on an airplane, if he was "bipolar"?
IF HE WAS ON THE JETWAY, HE WAS NOT ON THE FLIGHT!!!!
The Media can't get anything right. The Jetway is part of the airport, not part of the airplane. He was shot in the AIRPORT, not on the flight.
I bet they wouldn't have shot him on the plane, they probably would have been close enough to disable him. It was when he ran down the jetway that he opened space (and probably moved into an empty area, making a shot safer).
Lead poisoning
...A witness said the man frantically ran down the aisle and a woman with him said he was mentally ill....
Not any more.
Message to terrorist:
Forget about it!
Mental patients should be shipped by bus...or packed tightly in their white coats and sent by train.
He was mentally ill...
The wife of this woman will speak at the Democrat National Convention in '08 about how the oppressive Bush regime killed her husband.
Now he's no-polar.
You just made it WAAAAAY more complicated...
I agree. Then again, the media is usually clueless anyhow.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.