American Airlines Flight 924
American Airlines Flight 924 is a regularly scheduled flight from Medellín, Colombia to Orlando, Florida with a stopover at Miami, Florida.
December 7th, 2005 Shooting Incident
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On Wednesday, December 7, 2005, Flight 924, a Boeing 757, had arrived at Miami International Airport from Medellín, Colombia, and was headed to Orlando, Florida as it had been scheduled to continue on to Orlando International Airport as a domestic flight.
The plane parked at the gate, and passengers disembarked to be processed by customs and immigration officials. At approximately 2 PM EST, during the re-boarding process for those passengers continuing on to Orlando, a 44-year-old American passenger named Rigoberto Alpizar said there was a bomb in his carry-on bag after returning from customs and getting back on the plane. He was confronted by federal air marshals who asked him to get off the plane, which he did. However, when they asked him to put his bag down, he refused, and possibly reached into his bag. At this point he approached the federal air marshals in an aggressive manner, at which point he was shot and killed on the jetbridge of gate D42 in the American Airlines Concourse D. Upon investigation, there was no evidence that Alpizar had a bomb. Although no explosives were found, three bags which were believed to have belonged to Alpizar were blown up by police. The D concourse of Miami International Airport was temporarily evacuated following the shooting, and was re-opened around 3 PM EST.
Alpizar was a resident of the central Florida town of Maitland, Florida. He was flying with his wife, who during the incident ran frantically after him, shouting that he was bi-polar and had not taken his medication.
This incident was the first time that a federal air marshal fired a weapon on or near an airplane. It is also what the air marshals are trained to do in such of a situation.
A press confrence was recently held on December 7, 2005 at approximately 6:15 PM EST.
See also
Reference
- "Man killed after bomb claim at airport". December 7, 2005.
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- "Live video stream from WFOR-TV, CBS news affiliate in Miami, linked to from www.miami.com and www.cbs4.com as of 4:30 Eastern time. Video link may require broadband speed". December 7, 2005.
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