Passenger shot dead on Florida plane

Published on December 7th, 2005

A passenger claiming to have a bomb on board an American Airlines plane in Miami has been shot and wounded by a US federal officer, officials have said.

The passenger, who has been arrested, was challenged by the air marshal after he seemed to reach into a bag. He tried to flee and was shot.

The incident is said to have occurred on the jetway between the plane and the airport terminal.

The plane had just arrived from Colombia, and was headed to Orlando.

Update: NBC affiliate in Miami now says the suspect was killed.

Update: Mary Gardner, a passenger on the plane, told WTVJ the man started “running crazily through the aisle” after the plane landed in Miami. Gardner said a woman seated with the man ran after him, yelling that her husband was bipolar and had not taken his medication. Gardner described the woman as “hysterical.”

NBC News’ Pete Williams said authorities searching the man’s carry-on bag did not find a bomb.

A federal official told NBC that it was the first time since Sept. 11 that a marshal had fired a gun in or near a plane.

23 users responded in " Passenger shot dead on Florida plane "

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# 1 JohnMo said, on December 7th, 2005 at 1:05 pm

“Dvorak Uncensored – Personal weblog of columnist John C. Dvorak – Inside Information, backgrounders, the unprintable.

“Breaking news” in this blog is clutter.

# 2 gquaglia said, on December 7th, 2005 at 1:48 pm

I wonder how long it will be before left wing group condems this shooting and paints the victim as a great family man who never hurted anyone and the air marshal as some type of gun crazy cowboy who over reacted. It coming, you watch.

# 3 ranron said, on December 7th, 2005 at 2:34 pm

Serves him right. Teaches to keep your mouth shut about things like that.

# 4 Imafish said, on December 7th, 2005 at 2:39 pm

gquaglia, were you there?! I thought not. If it turns out to be true that he was a reat family man who never hurted anyone and the air marshal was some type of gun crazy cowboy who over reacted, I certainly hope BOTH the Right and the Left condem the shooting.

# 5 gquaglia said, on December 7th, 2005 at 2:46 pm

I forgot Imafish, you don’t like cops, sorry.

# 6 Jason said, on December 7th, 2005 at 3:22 pm

Does that mean the air marshall’s fired their pistols in or around planes on Sept 11? I don’t remember hearing anything about that before…

# 7 site admin said, on December 7th, 2005 at 4:09 pm

Sounds fishy to me. What I’m hearing is he claimed he had a bomb. Then they talked to him in first class. At that point I assume they didn’t search his pack? Then he left and was leaving the plane and then they shot him?

Every time a cop kills someone in 100% of the cases, justified or not, the killed person always is reported that they did something that could be interpreted as an excuse whether or not it’s true. Cops always lie and there is always a coverup when cops are either stupid or malicious.

Of course – there are a lot of justified shootings too.

But – the facts of this one seem really strange. Especially when the wife is yelling he has a medical condition and that he had left the plane.

# 8 site admin said, on December 7th, 2005 at 4:22 pm

I’m going to make a wild prediction. I’m betting that witnesses aren’t going to verify the claim that the passenger said he had a bomb. I bet only the air marshals heard it.

Let’s see if I’m right.

BTW – I’m not Dvorak – I’m his admin Marc Perkel in case the software he labels this comment wrong.

# 9 Sounds the Alarm said, on December 7th, 2005 at 4:23 pm

Sorry,

Most on this blog know my bents, but I don’t see where the marshals had a choice. He could have been crazy WITH a bomb. Ranrons right – threats have to be taken seriously.

BTW gquaglia – I’m the one who dispises cops. All they are is mobile toll both collectors.

# 10 Rob said, on December 7th, 2005 at 5:02 pm

WHy is it that a medical problem is an excuse? What if this “Medical” problem caused him to actully BRING a bomb on the plane?

He was always a family man and enver got into trouble. We can’t see HOW it was he killed all those people on that plane.

My point is folks with a problem THAT bad SHOULD have their medicine with them. How is it it is our fault he went nuts.

Yelling he had a bomb. If there were no Air Marshals around what would have folks said.

# 11 Smith said, on December 7th, 2005 at 5:12 pm

Ok, I’m confused. Now we learn that “site admin” may or may not be Dvorak. Is this John Dvorak’s site or not? Does he even post here anymore?

# 12 gquaglia said, on December 7th, 2005 at 6:38 pm

“Cops always lie and there is always a coverup when cops are either stupid or malicious.”.

Sounds like an anarcist philosphy to me. What did you get too many speeding tickets? Smoke too much pot and got busted? I really hope you find yourself in a pickle one day and have to rely on a stupid and malicious cop. Maybe your confusing this country with Mexico where the cops really are corrupt.

# 13 Justin said, on December 7th, 2005 at 9:22 pm

Of course, if the Air Marshals hadn’t shot him, and he did in fact have a bomb, they’d be criticized for doing nothing. Lose-lose.
It’s much easier to criticize in hindsight actions that need to be decided in a split second in a very tense moment.
Sad as it may turn out to be when all the facts are out, I think they did the right thing.

# 14 Jon said, on December 8th, 2005 at 5:42 am

The marshalls should be rewarded.

# 15 Sounds the Alarm said, on December 8th, 2005 at 9:11 am

gquaglia,

Yeah right – too much pot.

Actually I was sitting in the steps to my dorm with a dangerous coke can, when a campus cop came up and asked for my ID. Since it was my dorm all I had was my key, not my ID. I told him I had to get the ID and stood up to go inside. He cracked me on the head with his cop flash and told me that “he didn’t say I could go anywhere”. Next he cracked my on the side of the knee and then arrested me for drunkenness.

When I tested 0.0 he next said I assaulted him. This would have screwed me tight given another cop who wasn’t there backed him up. Thank God I video caught what happened. He got suspended and it was explained to me very carefully that if I sued all the campus cops would rack me up, one at a time.

So whats your story? Someone mention that he had civil rights and you took it as a “lack of respect” and did just a little tap dance on his or her head? Just to show ‘em who had the gun, right?

BTW I left to go to another collage and sued. Eventually I got both cops and the chief fired in place of any money. Latter I found out they got jobs in Cincinnati. Go figure.

# 16 Sounds the Alarm said, on December 8th, 2005 at 9:14 am

Sorry one last comment – gquaglia – you might have noticed from my first post I am on the Marshall’s side, not that they need me.

# 17 Andy said, on December 8th, 2005 at 9:20 am

Site Admin,
Cops always lie? I think site admins always lie. Am I right?

# 18 gquaglia said, on December 8th, 2005 at 10:45 am

Sounds the alarm – most cops aren’t like that, I should know, but just like any profession, there are a few bad eggs from the shallow end of the gene pool who make it through. My last comment was in reference to the site admin post who said that all cops lie all the time.

# 19 JohnMo said, on December 8th, 2005 at 1:11 pm

Smith… I’m wondering too if John still posts here. I count 18 posts in the last two days — 4 of them from site admin/John. Looks more like Eideard Uncensored to me.

# 20 James Hill said, on December 8th, 2005 at 1:25 pm

Post count went down after the first round of far-left ballyhoo. Haven’t seen much of JCD since.

# 21 AB CD said, on December 8th, 2005 at 2:19 pm

This is the flip side to that plane that flew lost around DC last year. That hsould have been shot down, and the marshals didn’t make that mistake this time. I’m glad they shot him, even though he didn’t have a bomb. It’ll keep people careful. I hope they’re making sure this wasn’t a test case of some sort by Al Qaeda.

# 22 Eideard said, on December 8th, 2005 at 4:19 pm

John said that in cases involving malicious or stupid behavior by the cops — they always lie. He also said there are justified shootings.

Context, context!

# 23 site admin said, on December 8th, 2005 at 11:48 pm

Hey..I post plenty..Marc..the OTHER SysAD jumps in using SiteAdmin although I need to change his moniker. He always identifies himself as such. but I need to fix that “bug” ..I usually do it after the fact…I did not say cops always lie..it’s impossible. But they will do what anyone will do once in a while, cover up a mistake. Who doesn’t?

I post plenty, but I do not get over involcved in the comment threads unless there is a misunderstanding or it goes off topic to an extreme.

“the” John C. Dvorak

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