Man Shot at Airport

[SuperJerk 0]

Man killed after bomb claim at airport

Official: Air marshals fired after he approached them aggressively

 

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A 44-year-old U.S. citizen who claimed to have a bomb was shot and killed when air marshals opened fire on a boarding bridge at the Miami airport, several sources told CNN. No bomb was found.

 

American Airlines Flight 924 was in Miami on a stopover during a flight from Medellin, Colombia, to Orlando, Florida, when the man, identified as Rigoberto Alpizar, said there was a bomb in his carry-on backpack, a Department of Homeland Security official said.

 

Alpizar was confronted by a team of federal air marshals, who followed him down the boarding bridge and ordered him to get on the ground, the official said. (Watch the aftermath of the shooting -- 1:36)

 

When Alpizar appeared to reach into his backpack, he was shot and wounded, the official said, adding that the marshals' actions were consistent with their training. Officials said later that the man died of his injuries. (Watch an air marshal talk about his extensive training -- 5:03)

 

Upon investigation, there was no evidence that Alpizar had a bomb, an official said.

 

Alpizar was traveling with a woman and had arrived in Miami on a plane from Quito, Ecuador, federal officials said. He and the woman began arguing before getting off the plane in Miami, two officials said.

 

A passenger, Mary Gardner, told WTVJ in Miami that the man ran frantically down the aisle from the rear of the plane, arms flailing, and that the woman accompanying him said that her husband was bipolar and had not taken his medication, according to The Associated Press.

 

After he got off the plane in Miami and went through customs, he got on the Orlando-bound plane and said he had a bomb, Air Marshal Service spokesman Dave Adams said. (Read about air marshals being taught to avoid risk)

 

Air marshals asked him to get off the plane, which he did, but when they asked him to put his bag down, he refused, Adams said. Alpizar then approached the marshals in an aggressive manner, at which point two or three shots were fired, he said.

 

Karlina Griffith, translating for her grandmother, witness Miriam Delgado, told WFOR television that Delgado heard three gunshots before people started running and "going crazy." (Watch a witness account -- :40)

 

Officials could not confirm if Alpizar suffered from mental illness. His mother-in-law told WKMG television in Orlando that he suffered from bipolar disorder, but his brother-in-law, Steven Buechner, told CNN he was unaware of any mental problems.

 

Alpizar moved to the United States from Costa Rica in 1986 and worked for Home Depot, Buechner said. He and his wife had been in South America since the day after Thanksgiving to help her uncle, a volunteer dentist, Buechner said.

 

Alpizar and his wife lived in Maitland, Florida, just a few miles north of Orlando, and they had no children, Buechner said.

 

The killing marks the first time a federal air marshal has fired a weapon at an individual since the program was bolstered after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

 

Footage from the scene showed armed SWAT team members carrying rifles outside the aircraft, along with more than a dozen police vehicles. Paramedics were standing on the stairway to the aircraft.

 

Investigators took the backpack and two other pieces of Alpizar's luggage onto the tarmac, and an explosives team blew the bag open by firing a bottle full of water at it. The water is used to effectively defuse any explosive device by separating its components.

 

The Boeing 757, which can hold about 180 passengers, was due to take off for Orlando at 2:18 p.m. ET. It had arrived in Miami at 12:16 p.m. ET, according to the airline's Web site. No other flights at Miami International were disrupted Wednesday, an airport official said.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/07/airplane.gunshot/index.html

 

Alpizar's neighbors recall 'nice guy'

Image at odds with that of man who claimed to have bomb

 

MAITLAND, Florida (AP) -- Neighbors knew him as a simple man who worked in the paint department of a home-supply store and spent his leisure time tending to the yard of his ranch-style home in this Orlando suburb.

 

Many could not reconcile that image with the one authorities painted Wednesday of Rigoberto Alpizar -- that of a desperate man who ran off a plane and claimed to have a bomb in his backpack. Alpizar was shot and killed by air marshals Wednesday at Miami International Airport on his way home from a trip to South America. (Watch report of what happened -- :54)

 

"He was a nice guy, always smiling, always talkative," said Louis Gunther, a neighbor who said he was watching Alpizar's home, while he and his wife were on a missionary trip. "Everybody is talking about a guy I know nothing about."

 

"This whole neighborhood is shocked. ... Totally uncharacteristic of the guy," added Alex McLeod, 16, who lives three houses down on the opposite side of the three-lined street from the Alpizars.

 

No one answered the door Wednesday evening at the couple's modest, four-bedroom house. A car was in the driveway, and television crews milled about. Many neighbors did not want to talk about the incident. Those who did were stunned, as were Alpizar's relatives.

 

"We're all still in shock. We're just speechless," said his sister-in-law, Kelley Buechner, in a telephone interview from her home in Milwaukee.

 

Alpizar arrived in Miami from Quito, Ecuador, earlier Wednesday, said Rick Thomas, the federal security director at Miami International. Relatives said Alpizar and his wife were returning from a trip to Peru.

 

Alpizar's brother-in-law, Steven Buechner, said he was a native of Costa Rica, and met his sister, Anne, when she was an exchange student there. Relatives said the couple had been married about 22 years.

 

"Rigo was a very quiet guy," said Charles Baez, 33, who said he was Alpizar's boss at MAB Paint Store in Winter Park until Alpizar left for a job at Home Depot three years ago. "It's very strange that he would ever do anything like this ... You never know what people go through, but he always seemed really normal to me."

 

Home Depot Inc. spokesman Don Harrison said he had no information about whether Alpizar worked for the home improvement chain.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/08/alpizar.p...e.ap/index.html

[Stephen Joseph 0]

Let's see

 

You have a mential illness.

 

You don't take your medicine, and you go crazy on an airline

 

Goooo evolution!

[nl5xsk1 0]

+1 for Darwinism.

[SuperJerk 0]

I've been waiting all day for someone to claim he'd probably still be alive if he was white.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Nah, there's not much meaning you can take from this. Dude went nuts, said he had a bomb, and tried to run down the jetway when confronted. Unfortunate, but threats like that have to be taken seriously. It's not like what happened in London where the dude just plain ran, this person actually said they meant to commit harm, even though he didn't have any means to do so.

 

And the family is dealing with it perfectly so far, not making any trouble or trying to create a shitstorm a la Cindy Sheehan.

[SuperJerk 0]

George Bush doesn't care about bipolar people.

[2GOLD 0]

Bipolar is a seriously fucked up thing and even on meds you can go batshit insane. There is no reason he should have been flying and if he had to, no reason he should be flying alone. It's a high stress situation and it can set someone off pretty easily.

 

Still, air marshall did his job and I applaud him. Not much you can do in a situation like that.

[Art Sandusky 0]

He wasn't flying alone. His wife was with him. She even tried to get the marshals to back off of him and said during the incident that he hadn't had his medication.

Edited December 9, 2005 by Kotzenjunge

[2GOLD 0]

He wasn't flying alone. His wife was with him.

 

Oh...then I blame her. Insurance money!!

Be a good way to bump off your bipolar husband, tell him there is a bomb in the bag and let him go apeshit.

[MrRant 0]

The fact they shot him like they should have made me happy.

 

Of course realizing that this shit happens all the time right before I have to fly somewhere sucks.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Take your pills and it's all good.

[Art Sandusky 0]

He wasn't flying alone. His wife was with him.

Oh...then I blame her. Insurance money!!

Be a good way to bump off your bipolar husband, tell him there is a bomb in the bag and let him go apeshit.

I was going to say how cool a name Rigoberto Alpizar was to hear over and over again on the news, but relented, thinking it might be too soon.

[MrRant 0]

Take your pills and it's all good.

 

hmm?

[Vampiro69 0]

If the air marshalls would have not done anything due to claim of being bi-polar, any terrorist would have an easy plan to follow for future reference.

[RepoMan 0]

That whole situation just sucks, probalbly shooting him was the right course. I just think if they wanted to be really safe they should have at least shut down the whole airport for a couple of hours at least.

[SuperJerk 0]

If the air marshalls would have not done anything due to claim of being bi-polar, any terrorist would have an easy plan to follow for future reference.

That's true.

 

I feel pretty sorry for the air marshal right now. Even though he was doing his job, he probably still feels really shitty about the whole situation.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I wonder if his wife feels guilty about not making sure he took his meds.

 

I mean, really, she should. I can't really blame the guy or the marshalls for what they did.

[Ced 0]

I'm reading this as if the marshal shot to disable rather than shoot to kill. Has anybody watched this close enough to know if this is right?

 

Either way, it's tragic the man died, but the marshals did their job under the circumstances they were given.

[Guest Dr. Wrestlingphysics]

That's the impression I get, that he was tying to wound the madman, and helater died.

Either way, if he was shooting to kill or disable, the Marshall was only doing his job in the face of a bomb threat.

[Special K 0]

RUH-ROH!

 

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/09/D8ECRGBG0.html

Edited December 9, 2005 by Special K

[Vyce 0]

That's the impression I get, that he was tying to wound the madman, and helater died.

Either way, if he was shooting to kill or disable, the Marshall was only doing his job in the face of a bomb threat.

 

I'm 99% sure they meant to kill him, because that's what they're trained to do. Air marshals, cops, etc., anyone who's called upon to potentially use lethal force, they're pretty much taught that if they've made the decision to pull the trigger, you shoot to kill, not wound.

 

And yeah, I've seen stories where some people are claiming that the guy didn't say he had a bomb. The media is the only one who's trying to make it seem like the air marshals are villains in this. You know what? It doesn't matter if he didn't claim he had a bomb (although I think it likely he DID claim that). If you're acting crazy, and you suddenly run right towards an armed law enforcement official, in a threatening manner, while at the same time frantically digging inside your backpack for SOMETHING, your ass is more than likely going to get shot, whether you claim to have an explosive or not. The media doesn't understand law enforcement officials, those people do NOT fuck around in those types of situations. They WILL drop your ass.

[Vampiro69 0]

You are correct Vyce. I am in total agreement with you.

 

What is so stupid is that I saw on the news that a spokesman for the mentally unstable believes that air marshalls should be taught to look for signs to see if people are bi-polar if a case like this should happen again.

 

I say tough shit. I want the air marshalls to not have to try and identify if the nutjob is bi-polar, you need to react quickly, not worry if the person forgot to take their medication.

[SuperJerk 0]

If air marshals are forbidden from shooting crazy people, then no terrorist will ever be shot.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Another Catch-22! What crazy times!

[2GOLD 0]

What is so stupid is that I saw on the news that a spokesman for the mentally unstable believes that air marshalls should be taught to look for signs to see if people are bi-polar if a case like this should happen again.

 

As someone who has had quite a few bipolar people in his life, including his best friend who went crazy WHILE on the meds, maybe they'd like to explain to me what the signs are. Cause from what I saw, there really AREN'T any fucking signs. One minute your fine, the next minute you are acting weird.

 

Great, so we'll have to only look for the obvious terrorists, like the ones wearing, "I kill because I don't understand my religion" t-shirt and yelling "Jihad!" as they get on the plane.

[MrRant 0]

Just don't shoot the one yelling "Holy Crusade".

[Special K 0]

Yeah, I mean you just have to shoot the guy in a scare like that. Unfortunately.

 

One out of 10 times he has a bomb, but that one he kills 50 people.

[spiny norman 0]

+1 for Darwinism.

 

Yes, because this guy was clearly an idiot with no reason beyond his control to act the way he did.

[Special K 0]

Yes, because this guy was clearly an idiot with no reason beyond his control to act the way he did.

 

Well, that pretty much is Darwinism. Took a little bipolar right out of the gene pool. Not saying its right, and not to be glib, but that's Darwinism, my man.