Only a matter of time

Count the number of things 'unknown' about this event.

December 7, 2005

Air Marshal Kills Passenger at Miami Airport

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MIAMI (AP) -- A passenger who claimed to have a bomb in a carry-on bag was shot and killed by a federal air marshal Wednesday on a jetway to an American Airlines plane that had arrived from Colombia, officials said.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said the dead passenger was a 44-year-old U.S. citizen. It was the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks that an air marshal had shot at a passenger or suspect, he said. A witness said that the man frantically ran down the aisle of the Boeing 757 and that a woman with him said he was mentally ill.

The passenger, who indicated there was a bomb in the bag, was confronted by air marshals but ran off the aircraft, Doyle said. The marshals pursued and ordered the passenger to get on the ground, but the man did not comply and was shot when apparently reaching into the bag, Doyle said. Authorities did not immediately say whether any bomb was found.

The plane, Flight 924, had arrived from Medellin, Colombia, at 12:16 p.m. and was scheduled to depart two hours later for Orlando, American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said. "I don't know yet if the passenger had been on the plane and was getting off, or was starting to board the aircraft," he said.

There were only 32 air marshals at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. The Bush administration hired thousands more afterward, though the exact number is classified.

UPDATE: According to CNN, no explosives were found in Rigoberto Alpizar's luggage.