Shots fired on plane in Miami

[GrantDawg]

MIAMI (AP) - Shots were fired on board an American Airlines flight that had landed at Miami International Airport, according to broadcast reports.

At least one person was wounded, the reports said. The plane had just arrived from Colombia and was headed to Orlando. Television showed police SWAT officers surrounding the plane. Airport and Miami-Dade County police officials said they had no immediate comment.

[jeff061]

Can't find any info on this, beyond that AP bit. There's a live video feed at cbsnews but I don't have audio.

[kingfc22]

FOX news and CNN are showing it right now.

[jeff061]

CNN says it was the federal marshal that fired the shot, which is a relief to those of us traveling in the near future.

After the UK shooting I'm not so confident about that. Hopefully everything came out okay.

Timestamp bug strikes again.

[Ksyrup]

CNN says it was the federal marshal that fired the shot, which is a relief to those of us traveling in the near future.

[GrantDawg]

CNN says it was the federal marshal that fired the shot, which is a relief to those of us traveling in the near future.
Fox saying passenger claimed he had a bomb. Still comforted?

[Ksyrup]

Well, anyone can claim anything. Now, if he actually has one, then no, I won't be.

[Ksyrup]

The plane was coming from Columbia. Did the soccer team lose last night or something?

[GrantDawg]

CNN saying shots where fired on the jetway, and there is not confirmation whether the person was on the plane or was running up the jetway while trying to enter the plane.

[Ksyrup]

Says wounded a passenger, though, which suggests someone who was on the plane.

[GrantDawg]

Says wounded a passenger, though, which suggests someone who was on the plane.

Yeah, they are saying now he did become agressive in the plane.

[GrantDawg]

So, what's the chance this has more to do with drugs than terrorism? The passenger is alive, btw.

[jeff061]

CBS said he was dead a 1 minute ago. Hooray for speculative reporting :).

[jeff061]

Dola, just said he's dead again

[jeff061]

Any online video feeds?


CBSNews

[Ben E Lou]

Any online video feeds?

[flere-imsaho]

So, what's the chance this has more to do with drugs than terrorism? The passenger is alive, btw.

You don't mean Narco-Terrorists (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2005/20050412_563.html), do you? ;)

[SackAttack]

Dola, just said he's dead again

I'm not dead yet!

I'm feeling better!

[jeff061]

From CBS news, on it not being terrorist related:
"According to my sources, this person was some kind of nut."

That's pretty much a direct quote.

[jeff061]

that's hard hitting journalism

They then added he was not only nutty but deranged as well.

[rkmsuf]

From CBS news, on it not being terrorist related:
"According to my sources, this person was some kind of nut."


that's hard hitting journalism

[DanGarion]

Well, anyone can claim anything. Now, if he actually has one, then no, I won't be.
Who cares, if he claimed it, then he's the moron for saying it.

[GrantDawg]

Seems there is some confirmation on the "nut" side. He was running up and down the cabin with his wife trying to calm him down.

And CNN confirming he is now dead.

[Wolfpack]

He's dead then?

[Hurst2112]

he was fatally shot.

[Hurst2112]

he actually said that he had a 'bong'. they shot an innocent stoner.


kidding.

[gottimd]

Call me if his condition changes

[CraigSca]

If they send him to a better hospital they could upgrade his condition to "alive".

[gottimd]

Someone like that should go to Dr. Nick.

[GrantDawg]

CNN reports that the indiviual was 44 years old male and an American citizen. And Homeland Security will not confirm the person is dead.

[jeff061]

So when do we have to put up with the people saying Air Marshalls should not be able to carry guns or maybe not even exist?

Personally, based on the information out there so far, I'm not shedding a tear for this guy.

[GrantDawg]

So when do we have to put up with the people saying Air Marshalls should not be able to carry guns or maybe not even exist?

Personally, based on the information out there so far, I'm not shedding a tear for this guy.
There might be some, but not much. Air Marshall's are the one item in the fear-mongered post 9/11 changes that makes sense. This kind of thing is going to happen, and is not uncalled for.

[rkmsuf]

Maybe they'll add a question that the ticket person asks:

"Have you been with your luggage the entire time at the airport?"

"Are you currently a nut?"

[stevew]

Man, he should have cut down on unleashing the fucking fury.

[stevew]

Oh, and the timestamp bug is out of control in this thread.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Call me if his condition changes

"Generalísimo Francisco Franco is still dead!"

[Toddzilla]

Man, he should have cut down on unleashing the fucking fury.
COMEDY GOLD

[cartman]

http://www.aztlan.net/homeland.jpg

:D

[Senator]

I am not going to miss dealing with this stuff day after day.

[Critch]

So when do we have to put up with the people saying Air Marshalls should not be able to carry guns or maybe not even exist?

As somebody who likes to regularly get totally wasted on flights, then run up and down the aisle claiming to have a bomb, I would like to say that Air Marshalls should not be able to carry guns. And guns should maybe not even exist.

[vtbub]

.

[JeeberD]

.

Deep, man. Deeeep...

[Greyroofoo]

Deep, man. Deeeep...

dola!

[sterlingice]

Someone like that should go to Dr. Nick."Hi, everybody!"

SI

[Joe]

excellent. court costs = $0


(until the wrongful death suit gets filed)

[vtbub]

Deep, man. Deeeep...
One should not need to explain inside jokes.

[jeff061]

One should not need to explain inside jokes.


:cool:

[timmae]

I saw Miami in the title and thought.. we need Horatio on this one...


man I watch too much TV.

[Rizon]

CNN.com: "Killed man's luggage exploded on tarmac"

Which made me think his luggage exploded on it's own, and not just blown up by cops. Their intentional miswording made me read the article, and now I'm pissed. I'm going to somebody set up us the bomb.

[Poli]

Someone like that should go to Dr. Nick.Funny, I had a principal once by the same name.

[st.cronin]

CNN.com: "Killed man's luggage exploded on tarmac"

Which made me think his luggage exploded on it's own, and not just blown up by cops. Their intentional miswording made me read the article, and now I'm pissed. I'm going to somebody set up us the bomb.

How would you have worded it? Because to me it isn't unclear at all.

[sterlingice]

Man, I hate the security measures in airports now. Absoltely hate them. Nice of you guys to make me take off my shoes because of some story from a couple of years ago. Yes, I'm going to kill people with my swiss army knife and it's 2" long blade. Morons, all of them. And it's not like any of these measures would stop a porcelain gun or blade from getting on the plane- it's just CYA lipservice that "we're making things safer" because paranoid people let the government do this.

The air marshall was doing his job and if the guy said he had a bomb and ran- I can't say I'm shedding too many tears over the dead guy. If this went down as it sounds like it went down then everyone did their job and it happened as "clean" as it was going to happen. Also, as much as I hate the job our current President is doing, I hope there isn't any political fallout from this one and there shouldn't be any unless there were some really weird extenuating circumstances.

SI

[Rizon]

How would you have worded it? Because to me it isn't unclear at all.

"Police detonate slain man's luggage on tarmac"

[JonInMiddleGA]

"Police detonate slain man's luggage on tarmac"

Works for me.

[Passacaglia]

Hey, look, a can of worms!

This got me thinking. So I'm assuming that, after the shooting, people aren't supposed to be freaked out anymore, since the shooter would say "Hey, it's okay, I'm an air marshal!" So...do y'all think that Muslims could be air marshals?

[Rizon]

Works for me.

I called them and they agreed to change it. Now it reads:

"Killed man's luggage destroyed"

[oykib]

Man, I hate the security measures in airports now. Absoltely hate them. Nice of you guys to make me take off my shoes because of some story from a couple of years ago. Yes, I'm going to kill people with my swiss army knife and it's 2" long blade. Morons, all of them. And it's not like any of these measures would stop a porcelain gun or blade from getting on the plane- it's just CYA lipservice that "we're making things safer" because paranoid people let the government do this.

The air marshall was doing his job and if the guy said he had a bomb and ran- I can't say I'm shedding too many tears over the dead guy. If this went down as it sounds like it went down then everyone did their job and it happened as "clean" as it was going to happen. Also, as much as I hate the job our current President is doing, I hope there isn't any political fallout from this one and there shouldn't be any unless there were some really weird extenuating circumstances.

SI

Agree with what you said here as much as I disagree with what you said in the $100 million thread.

[CamEdwards]

Man, I hate the security measures in airports now. Absoltely hate them. Nice of you guys to make me take off my shoes because of some story from a couple of years ago. Yes, I'm going to kill people with my swiss army knife and it's 2" long blade. Morons, all of them. And it's not like any of these measures would stop a porcelain gun or blade from getting on the plane- it's just CYA lipservice that "we're making things safer" because paranoid people let the government do this.

The air marshall was doing his job and if the guy said he had a bomb and ran- I can't say I'm shedding too many tears over the dead guy. If this went down as it sounds like it went down then everyone did their job and it happened as "clean" as it was going to happen. Also, as much as I hate the job our current President is doing, I hope there isn't any political fallout from this one and there shouldn't be any unless there were some really weird extenuating circumstances.

SI

While I generally agree with the sentiment, I must point out that there is no such thing as a porcelain gun. Don't believe everything Bruce Willis tells you in the Die Hard movies. :)

[oliegirl]

While I generally agree with the sentiment, I must point out that there is no such thing as a porcelain gun. Don't believe everything Bruce Willis tells you in the Die Hard movies. :)


What about the wooden gun the John Malkovich assembles without looking at the Clint Eastwood movie where he is a secret service agent?

[sterlingice]

While I generally agree with the sentiment, I must point out that there is no such thing as a porcelain gun. Don't believe everything Bruce Willis tells you in the Die Hard movies. :)Well, would porcelain knife make you happy? Or box cutter or whatever ;)

SI

[sterlingice]

Agree with what you said here as much as I disagree with what you said in the $100 million thread.Wow, we really agree on this ;)

SI

[SnowMan]

But there is such thing as a plastic box cutter. Which is what some of the 9/11 hijackers had, if I recall correctly.

[stevew]

It begins......

At least one passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 924 maintains the federal air marshals were a little too quick on the draw when they shot and killed Rigoberto Alpizar as he frantically attempted to run off the airplane shortly before take-off.


"I don't think they needed to use deadly force with the guy," says John McAlhany, a 44-year-old construction worker from Sebastian, Fla. "He was getting off the plane." McAlhany also maintains that Alpizar never mentioned having a bomb.

"I never heard the word 'bomb' on the plane," McAlhany told TIME in a telephone interview. "I never heard the word bomb until the FBI asked me did you hear the word bomb. That is ridiculous." Even the authorities didn't come out and say bomb, McAlhany says. "They asked, 'Did you hear anything about the b-word?'" he says. "That's what they called it."

When the incident began McAlhany was in seat 24C, in the middle of the plane. "[Alpizar] was in the back," McAlhany says, "a few seats from the back bathroom. He sat down." Then, McAlhany says, "I heard an argument with his wife. He was saying 'I have to get off the plane.' She said, 'Calm down.'"

Alpizar took off running down the aisle, with his wife close behind him. "She was running behind him saying, 'He's sick. He's sick. He's ill. He's got a disorder," McAlhany recalls. "I don't know if she said bipolar disorder [as one witness has alleged]. She was trying to explain to the marshals that he was ill. He just wanted to get off the plane."



McAlhany described Alpizar as carrying a big backpack and wearing a fanny pack in front. He says it would have been impossible for Alpizar to lie flat on the floor of the plane, as marshals ordered him to do, with the fanny pack on. "You can't get on the ground with a fanny pack," he says. "You have to move it to the side."

By the time Alpizar made it to the front of the airplane, the crew had ordered the rest of the passengers to get down between the seats. "I didn't see him get shot," he says. "They kept telling me to get down. I heard about five shots."

McAlhany says he tried to see what was happening just in case he needed to take evasive action. "I wanted to make sure if anything was coming toward me and they were killing passengers I would have a chance to break somebody's neck," he says. "I was looking through the seats because I wanted to see what was coming.

"I was on the phone with my brother. Somebody came down the aisle and put a shotgun to the back of my head and said put your hands on the seat in front of you. I got my cell phone karate chopped out of my hand. Then I realized it was an official."

In the ensuing events, many of the passengers began crying in fear, he recalls. "They were pointing the guns directly at us instead of pointing them to the ground," he says "One little girl was crying. There was a lady crying all the way to the hotel." McAlhany said he saw Alpizar before the flight and is absolutely stunned by what unfolded on the airplane. He says he saw Alpizar eating a sandwich in the boarding area before getting on the plane. He looked normal at that time, McAlhany says. He thinks the whole thing was a mistake: "I don't believe he should be dead right now." <NOINDEX>

[JonInMiddleGA]

It begins......

Predictable, ain't it?

[stevew]

Predictable, ain't it?Shit, this story is already a bit late on the trigger. I figured the justifiable force issue would have been raised while the guy was still on the ground.

[sachmo71]

Shit, this story is already a bit late on the trigger. I figured the justifiable force issue would have been raised while the guy was still on the ground.


But this guy is smart. He waited until the cops put their guns away before he started breaking necks.

[Izulde]

I hope the widow sues and gets a shitload of money. Fucking ape air marshals...

And if he did have bipolar disorder, it's probable that he was panicking about something and felt he needed to get off the plane. I'm assuming he was unmedicated at the time.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Shit, this story is already a bit late on the trigger. I figured the justifiable force issue would have been raised while the guy was still on the ground.

It probably would have been except that the evil government forces were holding the gallant media representatives at bay, while threatening to kill all the witnesses until someone showed up with a standard issue neuralyzer.

[ice4277]

I'm assuming he was unmedicated at the time.
And this is the air marshals' fault how?

[sterlingice]

It probably would have been except that the evil government forces were holding the gallant media representatives at bay, while threatening to kill all the witnesses until someone showed up with a standard issue neuralyzer.http://www.plasmainfusion.com/neutral.gif

"No, that was not a jittery air marshall going Rambo on a random fellow. What you actually witnessed was a guy who yelled bomb, before we chased him down the runway and detonated his luggage. That is all" *flash*

SI

[sterlingice]

Um... there's an IMetLyleAlzado (member.php?u=437) on this board and reading this thread? Is that like a parody of IMTG?

SI

[Glengoyne]

I think it is too soon to jump to the defense of the Air Marshall(s) involved, I also think it is too soon to liken them to wild vigilantes. Remember the british cops who put five bullets into the Brazillian "terror suspect's" head while he was laying compliant on the ground? Initially they were heroes.

Authorities given wide latitude with regard to the use of force can be wrong. I think they are, or should be, professionals, and as such given a certain amount of benefit of the doubt.

Time will tell.

[jeff061]

Guy should of taken his medication before putting himself in a situation with an easily forseen outcome like this. My opinion hasn't changed and, while predictable, the outlash annoys me.

[SnowMan]

I hope the widow sues and gets a shitload of money. Fucking ape air marshals...As an airline pilot who's spoken with several FAMs and FFDOs (Federal Flight Deck Officers), I'm certain that this wasn't a "that guy is running so I better shoot him" situation. They obviously perceived a grave threat and acted on that perception. Seems to me the guy had opportunity to save his own life. I'd rather this outcome than a blown up airplane, many more deaths, and people saying the FAMs didn't do their jobs.

The training and checking for FAMs and FFDOs is way above and beyond anything police or other law enforcement people go through. Just the act of firing a gun on board an airplane can cause some serious problems. These men and women know what they're doing, and I have every confidence that they are helping keep our skies safer.

I just wonder if we'll ever truly know all the facts, or whether the slant-happy media will make this another rallying cry, facts be damned.

[JeeberD]

Um... there's an IMetLyleAlzado (member.php?u=437) on this board and reading this thread? Is that like a parody of IMTG?

SI

A very old one. Where the hell have you been, SI?