NEWS: US Air Marshal Shoots Passenger on Flight from Columbia

CNN is reporting that a US Air Marshal has shot and injured a passenger enroute from Columbia to Orlando. The plane landed at Miami where it is now surrounded by SWAT teams.



American Airlines personnel are now saying the passenger threatened he had a bomb and the shooting may have taken place on the jet way while the plane was on the ground in Miami.

It is now confirmed the passenger did say he had a bomb in his carry on luggage and it was only when he started to run that the air marshal opened fire on the jetway.




[edit on 12/7/2005 by shots]

I was wondering how long it would take for the iran - colombia axis to start creating problems. If this turns out to be as it sounds - a thwarted terrorist incident - then it sounds like we had the right person in the right place. Hope there's many more where that Marshall came from.

Shots

Just saw this myself beat me to it

Thread

not much at the moment however there seems to be a massive police activity, and also :

Television images from the scene showed armed officers taking up positions around the plane. MSNBC reported that the shooting took place on the jet bridge, between the plane and the terminal.

Source

BBC is now confirming that he had a bomb and ran for it, on air, he was a terrorist. Lets just hope this is one and not one of many I hope all Planes are grounded quickly.

Regards

Elf


[edit on 7-12-2005 by MischeviousElf]

Fox News is reporting 3:10 pm est that they have NOT confirmed if the passenger was loading from Miami or actually on the flight from Colombia. They are saying the man was running off the plane with the bag, was tackled and in the process of being tackled, shots were fired when the suspect tried to reach into his bag. More details to follow.

Train

I bet he is dead, or very close to it. No way they would take a chance of him detonating anything...

There are reports that one man is dead. But that's unconfirmed, and so far I've heard more reports of the suspect being injured rather than dead.
Coincidentally, today is the 64th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hmmmm... should we be concerned about other incidents? Someone was speculating that the Air Marshall might have been placed at that gate/plane because of a tip. I can't wait to see if there was a bomb in the pack.

Fox News just reported that the suspect has died. The Air Marshall was a woman; there apparently was a scuffle.

Apparently the suspect was shoving and pushing his way toward the front of the plane, which is where the Air Marshall would normally be located.

[edit on 7-12-2005 by jsobecky]

[edit on 7-12-2005 by jsobecky]

CNN is saying he was shot on the jetway after the plane had landed. He threatened that he had a bomb. If he was trying to blow up the plane, why didn't he do it in flight? Also, how did a bomb get through screening? Unless the screening in Columbia is completely useless. If he kept walking after the air marshal told him to stop could it be that he was trying to hide something? Trying to avoid customs? Coming from Columbia...I wonder what it could be... Only time will tell.

If the description of what happened is correct I hope that the Air Marshall involved gets a well deserved pat on the back. This just shows that there is protection and security on the airlines. The Air Marshalls have been around since the early 70's and this is the first time one has fired a weapon in the line of duty.

Boston news is reporting that the man shot was followed out of the plane by his wife who was yelling "my husband....my husband...he's bipolar and hasn't had his medication..."

This is looking rather bizarre...

[edit on 7-12-2005 by loam]

Bizarre indeed.... I'm still trying to get my head around the Iran - Colombia axis mentioned in the second post

I nearly spat coffee all over my keyboard

one thing that gets me, is if a terrorist were plotting to detonate a bomb on ane airliner, then why the hell would he announce "i have a bomb". Wouldn't they just blow it out of the sky without a word? I think the terrorist would have an idea that there may be a marshal on board.

CNN.com is stating there was no bomb, contrary to the BBC post mentioned earlier.

As far as why he didn't just push the button in air, maybe he was one of the "old fashioned" terrorists, who just wanted to hijack the plane to another country.

Of course, another reason could be that he didn't have a bomb...

hearing the same thing as loam...

per unconfirmed reported by AP and reported on my local MIA newstation, also saying that woman who was travelling with the man, stated her "husband is "mentally ill".

authorities are not confirming this btw.

how tragic if this is indeed the case.

[edit on 12-7-2005 by worldwatcher]

Boston news reporting from eyewitness account:

- wife got a call and asked to get off plane (described as frantic)...when she returned, husband ran up front of plane...also described as frantic...

- witness claims that he was shot in 1st class on the plane

- witness confirms bipolar comments from wife...

EDIT: Government officials confirming no explosives involved.....

Witnesses describe observing a verbal argument with the man and his wife....He was reported to have then stormed out of his chair and ran down the isle to exit plane....

[Note: Government officials are the only ones currently reporting that the man made comments concerning a bomb.... I hope I'm wrong, but I smell something fishy here....]


[edit on 7-12-2005 by loam]

44 year old US citicen...
Sad, but I am relieved in a way that it wasn't one of my countrymen.

*Edit: Judging by the cituation until now, I support the airmartials decition to take him down.



[edit on 7-12-2005 by TheDarkFlame]

Originally posted by worldwatcher
per unconfirmed reported by AP and reported on my local MIA newstation, also saying that woman who was travelling with the man, stated her "husband is "mentally ill".

how tragic if this is indeed the case.

Tragic? What is tragic about it? He should have not been on that plane, putting the rest of the passengers and crew at risk, if he were mentally ill. Or, if he just had to fly today he should have been so damned heavily over-medicated that he didn't know which way to sit in a seat.

There is no time to analyze a situation like this; you have to assume the worst and take the appropriate action - stop that bomb from detonating.

I suspect that it was a mentally disturbed individual that was impatient and wanted off the plane...

You dont play games like this on a plane... no matter how "depressed or manic " you are.

I have been very close to many bipolar people... and they DO have to bear responsibility for there own actions... otherwise, we have to lock them up (or they will get shot)... all the ones I knew were far too "sane" to be locked up...but needed a little more help and understanding... It didn't ever excuse their actions...

when someone says "stop or I'll shoot" insanity wont stop a bullet, but following official direction will...



[edit on 7-12-2005 by LazarusTheLong]

Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
I have been very close to many bipolar people... and they DO have to bear responsibility for there own actions... otherwise, we have to lock them up (or they will get shot)... all the ones I knew were far too "sane" to be locked up...but needed a little more help and understanding... It didn't ever excuse their actions...

They will only get shot because everyone is so damned uptight these days. Like jsobecky up there. I hope to god the cops never show up at your door with a shoot-first-ask-quesitons-later mindset at an inconvenient time. I can't believe the insensitive nature of our worthless society.

If the guy was mentaly ill yes it was tragic, but untill we have more details about what happened this is all speculation. mental illness or no, based on what we have seen, the air marshal was justified in her actions. If the guy says he has a bomb or reaches into his backpack for god knows what, you have a fraction of a second to decide if he is bluffing or not. This is not some Dirty Harry movie.