the friendly skies????
MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. air marshals on Wednesday shot and killed an American Airlines passenger who claimed to be carrying a bomb in his backpack and ran off a plane at Miami International Airport after being confronted.
Federal officials said the 44-year-old American made threats and indicated he had a bomb in his bag as he was boarding a flight to Orlando in central Florida.
It was the first time an airplane passenger was shot by air marshals since the U.S. marshals program was beefed up after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. Witnesses said the man might have been mentally ill.
The man, who arrived in Miami from Quito, Ecuador, was identified as Florida resident Rigoberto Alpizar.
Authorities said he was challenged by two air marshals on board the Orlando-bound plane, and shot on the passenger gangway after running off the aircraft. He ignored demands to put his bag on the ground and instead reached into it, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said.
"Shots were fired as the team attempted to subdue the subject," the spokesman said.
The shooting triggered a scramble by air marshals to guard airports across the United States against possible attacks.
But Jim Bauer, special agent in charge of the federal air marshals' Miami office, said investigators found no immediate evidence of a link to terrorism and no sign of a bomb.
A woman who said she was a witness told NBC television's Miami affiliate, WTVJ, that the man's wife had screamed "my husband, my husband," and said he had bipolar disorder and needed medication.
"Her husband ran through the aisle frantically. She ran after him and all of a sudden there were four or five shots," passenger Mary Gardner told the station by telephone.
Federal officials said they could not comment on the allegation that the suspect might have been mentally ill.