MIAMI, Florida (CNN) --""
Witnesses aboard an American Airlines jetliner say that Rigoberto Alpizar's wife pursued him, saying he was mentally ill, just before federal marshals shot and killed him. Air marshals said Alpizar had announced he was carrying a bomb.
Later, no explosives were found. The incident remains under investigation.
"She was chasing after him," said fellow passenger Alan Tirpak. "She was just saying her husband was sick, her husband was sick." When the woman returned, "she just kept saying the same thing over and over, and that's when we heard the shots."
Another passenger, Mary Gardner of Orlando, said she also overheard Alpizar's wife. "I heard her say, 'he's bipolar, he doesn't have his medicine.'"
Ellen Sutliff, who said she sat near Alpizar, described him as agitated, even before he boarded the plane. His wife kept coaxing him, "We just have to get through customs. Please, please help me get through this," according to Sutliff.
"We're going to be home soon, and everything will be all right," Sutliff quoted the wife as saying.
Alpizar's mother-in-law told CNN affiliate WKMG that he suffered from bipolar disorder.
Accounts vary on whether Alpizar had announced he had a bomb.
Tirpak said he didn't hear Alpizar say anything.
Dave Adams, a spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service, said Alpizar had run up and down the plane's aisle yelling, "I have a bomb in my bag."
Adams said Alpizar fled the aircraft when marshals confronted him -- and when they asked him to set down the bag on the boarding bridge, he refused and approached them in an aggressive way. The marshals fired two or three shots when Alpizar appeared to reach into his bag, Adams said.
One law enforcement source said the backpack had drawn attention, because Alpizar wore it over his chest, not his back.
It was the first time a federal air marshal fired a weapon at someone since the program was bolstered in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The two marshals who fired at Alpizar were placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, the air marshal service said.
The agency said Alpizar was not on any terror watch lists.
After the shooting, investigators took passengers' luggage off the plane, and an explosives team blew open Alpizar's luggage on the tarmac. A subsequent search of Alpizar's backpack and luggage aboard the aircraft turned up no sign of a bomb, Bauer said.
The plane was parked in a hangar for examination, and passengers left in another jet.
Alpizar, a U.S. citizen, had boarded American Airlines Flight 924 in Miami to fly to Orlando, Florida. The 44-year-old Maitland, Florida resident had just connected from a flight from Ecuador.
Neighbors and family described him as a nice guy and said the image that federal marshals painted of him was at odds with the man they knew. (Full story)
A neighbor, Janice Tweedie, called Alpizar "very friendly and helpful to people around the neighborhood ... a very pleasant person, he and his wife both."
"I've never seen any erratic behavior from him at all," Tweedie said.
Alpizar moved to the United States from Costa Rica in 1986 and worked for Home Depot, his brother-in-law, Steven Buechner, told CNN. He said that Alpizar and his wife had been in South America since the day after Thanksgiving to help out her uncle, a volunteer dentist.
Buechner said the couple had no children and that he was unaware of any mental health issues Alpizar may have had.""
i also heard katie couric questioning the marshall`s actions......"isn`t there a way to wound this person?...do they have to shoot to kill?".....she`s ridiculous...again,the media is in la la land...
maybe i`m off....but,how could these marshall`s have known whether this guy had a bomb?....
and how would they know whether the wife wasn`t a part of a plot?....
finally...why didn`t the wife...if she had a brain,make sure her beloved husband wasn`t medicated before getting on an airplane....
as far as i know,there is no "shoot to wound" strategy when a guy may have a bomb...
think about this situation if it had happened while the plane is in the air...what an ordeal for those passengers...
imagine the federal government`s situation if this guy had only been wounded and still detonated a bomb?...
the media would have skewered them....
so,your damned if you do....and damned if you don`t...
Witnesses aboard an American Airlines jetliner say that Rigoberto Alpizar's wife pursued him, saying he was mentally ill, just before federal marshals shot and killed him. Air marshals said Alpizar had announced he was carrying a bomb.
Later, no explosives were found. The incident remains under investigation.
"She was chasing after him," said fellow passenger Alan Tirpak. "She was just saying her husband was sick, her husband was sick." When the woman returned, "she just kept saying the same thing over and over, and that's when we heard the shots."
Another passenger, Mary Gardner of Orlando, said she also overheard Alpizar's wife. "I heard her say, 'he's bipolar, he doesn't have his medicine.'"
Ellen Sutliff, who said she sat near Alpizar, described him as agitated, even before he boarded the plane. His wife kept coaxing him, "We just have to get through customs. Please, please help me get through this," according to Sutliff.
"We're going to be home soon, and everything will be all right," Sutliff quoted the wife as saying.
Alpizar's mother-in-law told CNN affiliate WKMG that he suffered from bipolar disorder.
Accounts vary on whether Alpizar had announced he had a bomb.
Tirpak said he didn't hear Alpizar say anything.
Dave Adams, a spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service, said Alpizar had run up and down the plane's aisle yelling, "I have a bomb in my bag."
Adams said Alpizar fled the aircraft when marshals confronted him -- and when they asked him to set down the bag on the boarding bridge, he refused and approached them in an aggressive way. The marshals fired two or three shots when Alpizar appeared to reach into his bag, Adams said.
One law enforcement source said the backpack had drawn attention, because Alpizar wore it over his chest, not his back.
It was the first time a federal air marshal fired a weapon at someone since the program was bolstered in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The two marshals who fired at Alpizar were placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, the air marshal service said.
The agency said Alpizar was not on any terror watch lists.
After the shooting, investigators took passengers' luggage off the plane, and an explosives team blew open Alpizar's luggage on the tarmac. A subsequent search of Alpizar's backpack and luggage aboard the aircraft turned up no sign of a bomb, Bauer said.
The plane was parked in a hangar for examination, and passengers left in another jet.
Alpizar, a U.S. citizen, had boarded American Airlines Flight 924 in Miami to fly to Orlando, Florida. The 44-year-old Maitland, Florida resident had just connected from a flight from Ecuador.
Neighbors and family described him as a nice guy and said the image that federal marshals painted of him was at odds with the man they knew. (Full story)
A neighbor, Janice Tweedie, called Alpizar "very friendly and helpful to people around the neighborhood ... a very pleasant person, he and his wife both."
"I've never seen any erratic behavior from him at all," Tweedie said.
Alpizar moved to the United States from Costa Rica in 1986 and worked for Home Depot, his brother-in-law, Steven Buechner, told CNN. He said that Alpizar and his wife had been in South America since the day after Thanksgiving to help out her uncle, a volunteer dentist.
Buechner said the couple had no children and that he was unaware of any mental health issues Alpizar may have had.""
i also heard katie couric questioning the marshall`s actions......"isn`t there a way to wound this person?...do they have to shoot to kill?".....she`s ridiculous...again,the media is in la la land...
maybe i`m off....but,how could these marshall`s have known whether this guy had a bomb?....
and how would they know whether the wife wasn`t a part of a plot?....
finally...why didn`t the wife...if she had a brain,make sure her beloved husband wasn`t medicated before getting on an airplane....
as far as i know,there is no "shoot to wound" strategy when a guy may have a bomb...
think about this situation if it had happened while the plane is in the air...what an ordeal for those passengers...
imagine the federal government`s situation if this guy had only been wounded and still detonated a bomb?...
the media would have skewered them....
so,your damned if you do....and damned if you don`t...
