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troublemaker_42

Officials: Passenger killed after claiming to have bomb

Wednesday, December 7, 2005; Posted: 4:27 p.m. EST (21:27 GMT)


Police officers circle the Boeing 757 Wednesday at Miami International Airport.
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MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A federal air marshal shot and killed a 44-year-old U.S. citizen on a boarding bridge at Miami International Airport after he said he had a bomb, several sources familiar with the incident told CNN.

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

He was confronted by a team of federal air marshals, who pursued the man down the boarding bridge and ordered him to get on the ground, the official said. ( Watch scene after the incident -- 1:31)

When the man appeared to reach into his baggage, at least one shot was fired by the marshals, wounding the man, the official said, adding that the marshals' actions were consistent with their training. Officials said later that the man had died of his injuries.

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

This is the first time an air marshal has fired a weapon on or near an airplane, a federal official said.

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

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.



Why on earth would someone do something so asine? What do people EXPECT to happen when they say they have a bomb, then disobey people that have guns pointed at them?

 

Buzzby

Suicide by cop?

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teufelfisch

A part of me wants to say that since the man did not have a bomb, an injustice was done.

However, I understand that the cops acted exactly as they should have acted, and I would have probably made the same choice!

At some point in this incident there was an intelligence failure, either by the cops or by the man.

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Niteshift

Intelligence failure? What intelligence would be involved here? You have a guy who suddenly becomes disruptive, claims to have a bomb, refuses to comply with instructions and then makes a sudden move towards the bag..........they had no choice. Intelligence gathering has nothing to do with this.

__________________
A burning desire for social justice is never a substitute for knowing what you're talking about. -Thomas Sowell

Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is muzzle flash.

teufelfisch

I was being sarcastic. My point was that either the man or the cops screwed up, depending on your point of view. The point is moot, see?

 

Buzzby

How did the cops screw up? I'm trying to see things from that POV and I simply can't.

They did everything according to established procedures designed to protect people from terrorists. There was no way they could have known the man didn't have a bomb. They had to assume he did. They gave the guy every opportunity they could to get out of the situation in one piece and he refused to take advantage of them.

They guy was
a) incredibly stupid
b) totally insane
c) suicidal
d) all of the above

I don't see any course of action the air marshals could have taken to avoid the shooting without putting hundreds of people at risk.

teufelfisch

Oh yes, I totally agree with you, the man is completely at fault and the cops acted as they should have.

The "other point of view" is this:
A man who did not have a bomb was killed for having a bomb.

In the distant future something like this probably would not have happened, because the cops would be omniscient.

Don't take me too seriously on this one Buzz. I am simply trying to clear my conditioned eyes.

"If you were not here
to see the world
with your special
conditioned eyes
what makes you think
it would look like that?"
--Kerouac

killer12382

The guy was bipolar and hadn't been taking his medications to control his mental disorder. His wife was on board and was screaming that he hadn't been taking his drugs. But...what the hell...we're at war and there will be casualties.

Niteshift

War or no war.........that was the proper response.

And I've heard the bipolar thing already. I've dealt with a lot of bipolar folks that were off their meds and I'm not buying this. Bipolar might make you run around like he was doing, but it doesn't make you tell cops you have a bomb in your backpack.

troublemaker_42

I agree....so, Killer, would you have been mor pleased if the air marshalls had decided to listen to the wife, and it was discovered he DID have a bomb? Would a 100 dead bodies be less tragic than the death of one? I'm not sure what you think the ideal situation would be here. They did the right thing, no question. Of course, if they hadn't shot him, and the bomb was real and did go off, I'm sure you'd have your criticisms on that front as well. I'm guessing a rant about how our national intelligence should have known weeks ahead about the bomb would be in order, or some crap about how the bomb was Bush's personal fault, and that if we had a different president, all this would have never happened. There simply is no pleasing some people.