US air marshals shot and killed a passenger at Miami International Airport on Wednesday after the man claimed he had a bomb in his backpack and ran from an aircraft, officials said. The incident—the first case of an air marshal opening fire since marshals became a common presence on flights after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 20013—prompted dozens of heavily armed police officers to surround the plane. Luggage from the flight was laid out on the runway, and at least two bags were exploded by a bomb squad.But the man, Rigoberto Alpizar, an American citizen from Florida, was found to have no bomb. One passenger on the flight told a local television station that his wife had tried to follow her husband as he ran off the plane, saying he was mentally ill and had not taken his medication. Law enforcement officials refused to answer questions about Alpizar’s mental state or his wife. At a news conference, James Bauer, the special agent in charge of federal air marshals in Miami, defended the decision to shoot Alpizar, saying the air marshals were following protocol and had been trained to shoot when they perceived a serious threat. Alpizar had arrived in Miami around noon on an American Airlines flight from Quito, Ecuador, said Rick Thomas, the federal security director at the airport.Alpizar and his wife had boarded American Airlines Flight 924 to Orlando around 2 p.m. and the plane was waiting to taxi when Alpizar, 44, “uttered threatening words that included a sentence to the effect that he had a bomb”, Bauer said.Two air marshals aboard the flight confronted Alpizar, who then ran from the Boeing 757 and onto the jetway connecting it to the airport concourse. The marshals followed and ordered him to the ground, said Brian Doyle, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. “He then appeared to be reaching into a carry-on bag, and the air marshals proceeded consistent with their training,” Doyle said. “Shots were fired as the team attempted to subdue the individual.”—NYT
