US officials on Thursday defended the deadly shooting of a threatening air passenger as necessary to protect the flying public and the White House said an investigation will determine whether there were lessons to be learned from the incident.
The two federal air marshals involved in the shooting of an American Airlines passenger were put on paid leave while the incident at Miami International Airport was investigated, said air marshal spokesman Dave Adams.
"In any law enforcement shooting, it's not just with the federal air marshals, they have to conduct an internal investigation," Adams said.
"At this time the [marshals] are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation," he added.
The incident at the airport was the first time a passenger had been shot by air marshals since the enforcement program was beefed up after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked airline attacks.
"This incident demonstrates the critical role that air marshals play in aviation security today," Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said.
Officials said the passenger, identified as Rigoberto Alpizar, 44, indicated he was carrying a bomb in his bag as he boarded the plane for a flight to Orlando.
Adams said the two air marshals followed "textbook training" when they shot Alpizar after he ran off the airplane and ignored demands to stop and put down his bag.
Witnesses said Alpizar appeared to be mentally ill. Law enforcement officials said later there was no sign of a bomb.
Alpizar had been agitated before boarding the plane and was singing Go Down Moses as his wife tried to calm him, a fellow passenger said.
"The wife was telling him, `Calm down. Let other people get on the plane. It will be all right,'" Alan Tirpak said on Thursday.
"I thought maybe he's afraid of flying," Tirpak said.
Tirpak took his seat, and Rigoberto Alpizar, 44, and his wife eventually boarded the plane. Then, a few minutes before the plane was to pull away, Alpizar bolted up the aisle and onto the jetway, where two air marshals confronted him.
"He was belligerent. He threatened that he had a bomb in his backpack," said Brian Doyle, spokesman for the US Homeland Security Department.
"The officers clearly identified themselves and yelled at him to `get down, get down.' Instead, he made a move toward the backpack," Doyle said.
Agents are trained to shoot to stop a threat, and the situation on the jetway at Miami International Airport on Wednesday appeared to pose one, said John Amat, a deputy with the US Marshals Service in Miami.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan also said on Thursday that the two air marshals appeared to have acted properly when they shot to kill.
Both air marshals were hired in 2002 from other federal law enforcement agencies and are now on administrative leave, as is routine, Doyle said.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS