Draco69
Frantic Man Claimed to Have a Bomb, Fled Plane
Source: http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20051207144209990016
MIAMI (Dec. 8) - Shortly after boarding a plane, passengers say, they saw a man bolt from his seat and run down the aisle, with his screaming wife and man in a Hawaiian shirt behind.
"My husband! My husband!" one passenger said she heard the wife cry.
The chase ended moments later Wednesday in a Miami International Airport jetway, when authorities say Rigoberto Alpizar appeared to reach for his bag. He was shot to death by the man in the Hawaiian shirt and a second pursuer, both undercover air marshals.
Before he ran off the plane he "uttered threatening words that included a sentence to the effect that he had a bomb," said James E. Bauer, agent in charge of the Federal Air Marshal Service field office in Miami.
No bomb was found, and federal officials later concluded there was no link to terrorism. Witnesses said his wife, Anne, frantically tried to explain he was bipolar, a mental illness also known as manic-depression, and was off his medication.
"She said it was her fault that he was bipolar," said Mike Deshears, a Flight 924 passenger. "He was sick and she had convinced him to get on the plane."
The flight had arrived in Miami from Bogota, Colombia and was to continue on to Orlando.
It was the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks that an air marshal discharged a firearm at a passenger or suspect, Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said.
Dave Adams, a spokesman for the air marshals, confirmed Thursday there were two marshals on the flight and said both fired at Alpizar.
"They felt their life was threatened," he told ABC's "Good Morning America." "This was a textbook scenario and they acted instinctively based on the training."
The Bush administration hired thousands of additional air marshals after Sept. 11, when the nation had only 33. The exact number now is classified. Marshals fly undercover, and which planes they're on is a closely guarded secret.
Officials declined to say how many times Alpizar was shot, but passengers reported hearing between four to six shots. Authorities did not confirm he suffered from a mental illness.
"The man sitting next to me got on the floor," said passenger Olga Echeverrie, of Guatemala. "I threw myself on the floor to pray for God's mercy on us."
Several Colombian journalists were aboard the plane making a trip to Orlando, including journalist Gerardo Chavez of the newspaper El Tiempo, who recounted how the shooting occurred in an article published Thursday.
"It all began when the passengers were nearly finished boarding. There were about two people left who hadn't boarded yet. The man (Alpizar) was around the second-to-the-last passenger who had passed by my side. I was in the seats at the rear, and suddenly he passed by and pushed the flight attendant and left shouting like a madman, and he went to the front door" of the plane, Chavez was quoted as saying.
"A lady followed him, shouting: 'He's ill, he's ill!"' Chavez recalled. "Then there was some noise outside. They said: 'Get down on the floor!' And everybody threw themselves under the seats. When they had the situation under control, they told us to sit up again."
He said police and federal agents who came aboard the plane thoroughly frisked passengers and then ordered them off the plane, "all of us with our hands on our heads."
Alpizar, who worked in the paint department of a home supply store, was returning from a missionary trip in Ecuador, according to a neighbor who was watching his ranch-style house in the Orlando suburb of Maitland.
"We're all still in shock," said his sister-in-law, Kelley Buechner, in a telephone interview from her home in Milwaukee. "We're just speechless."
Investigators closed the concourse at the airport for half an hour and spread passengers' bags on the tarmac. Dogs sniffed them for explosives, and bomb squad members blew up at least two bags. No bombs were found.
The remaining passengers were kept on the plane for an hour, then police told them to leave with their hands behind their backs, said Lucy Argote, 15, of Codazi, Colombia. They had to leave their possessions behind.
Argote said Alpizar got up from his seat and ran toward the plane's door, with his wife yelling in Spanish.
"Officers told him to stop and he said no," the teen said. "He was running like a crazy man."
Another passenger, Mary Gardner, told WTVJ-TV in Miami that she also heard his wife call after him as he ran down the aisle.
"He was frantic, his arms flailing in the air," she said. She said a woman followed, shouting, "My husband! My husband!"
The Alpizars had been married for about two decades and met when Anne was an exchange student in Costa Rica, family members said. Rigoberto became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Source: http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20051207144209990016
MIAMI (Dec. 8) - Shortly after boarding a plane, passengers say, they saw a man bolt from his seat and run down the aisle, with his screaming wife and man in a Hawaiian shirt behind.
"My husband! My husband!" one passenger said she heard the wife cry.
The chase ended moments later Wednesday in a Miami International Airport jetway, when authorities say Rigoberto Alpizar appeared to reach for his bag. He was shot to death by the man in the Hawaiian shirt and a second pursuer, both undercover air marshals.
Before he ran off the plane he "uttered threatening words that included a sentence to the effect that he had a bomb," said James E. Bauer, agent in charge of the Federal Air Marshal Service field office in Miami.
No bomb was found, and federal officials later concluded there was no link to terrorism. Witnesses said his wife, Anne, frantically tried to explain he was bipolar, a mental illness also known as manic-depression, and was off his medication.
"She said it was her fault that he was bipolar," said Mike Deshears, a Flight 924 passenger. "He was sick and she had convinced him to get on the plane."
The flight had arrived in Miami from Bogota, Colombia and was to continue on to Orlando.
It was the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks that an air marshal discharged a firearm at a passenger or suspect, Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said.
Dave Adams, a spokesman for the air marshals, confirmed Thursday there were two marshals on the flight and said both fired at Alpizar.
"They felt their life was threatened," he told ABC's "Good Morning America." "This was a textbook scenario and they acted instinctively based on the training."
The Bush administration hired thousands of additional air marshals after Sept. 11, when the nation had only 33. The exact number now is classified. Marshals fly undercover, and which planes they're on is a closely guarded secret.
Officials declined to say how many times Alpizar was shot, but passengers reported hearing between four to six shots. Authorities did not confirm he suffered from a mental illness.
"The man sitting next to me got on the floor," said passenger Olga Echeverrie, of Guatemala. "I threw myself on the floor to pray for God's mercy on us."
Several Colombian journalists were aboard the plane making a trip to Orlando, including journalist Gerardo Chavez of the newspaper El Tiempo, who recounted how the shooting occurred in an article published Thursday.
"It all began when the passengers were nearly finished boarding. There were about two people left who hadn't boarded yet. The man (Alpizar) was around the second-to-the-last passenger who had passed by my side. I was in the seats at the rear, and suddenly he passed by and pushed the flight attendant and left shouting like a madman, and he went to the front door" of the plane, Chavez was quoted as saying.
"A lady followed him, shouting: 'He's ill, he's ill!"' Chavez recalled. "Then there was some noise outside. They said: 'Get down on the floor!' And everybody threw themselves under the seats. When they had the situation under control, they told us to sit up again."
He said police and federal agents who came aboard the plane thoroughly frisked passengers and then ordered them off the plane, "all of us with our hands on our heads."
Alpizar, who worked in the paint department of a home supply store, was returning from a missionary trip in Ecuador, according to a neighbor who was watching his ranch-style house in the Orlando suburb of Maitland.
"We're all still in shock," said his sister-in-law, Kelley Buechner, in a telephone interview from her home in Milwaukee. "We're just speechless."
Investigators closed the concourse at the airport for half an hour and spread passengers' bags on the tarmac. Dogs sniffed them for explosives, and bomb squad members blew up at least two bags. No bombs were found.
The remaining passengers were kept on the plane for an hour, then police told them to leave with their hands behind their backs, said Lucy Argote, 15, of Codazi, Colombia. They had to leave their possessions behind.
Argote said Alpizar got up from his seat and ran toward the plane's door, with his wife yelling in Spanish.
"Officers told him to stop and he said no," the teen said. "He was running like a crazy man."
Another passenger, Mary Gardner, told WTVJ-TV in Miami that she also heard his wife call after him as he ran down the aisle.
"He was frantic, his arms flailing in the air," she said. She said a woman followed, shouting, "My husband! My husband!"
The Alpizars had been married for about two decades and met when Anne was an exchange student in Costa Rica, family members said. Rigoberto became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
~ Fin ~
............People were sitting in the lobby with chicken too.....quite bizarre..