- It now appears that Air Marshals lied about a mentally
ill Latino passenger saying "I have a bomb" just before they
shot him at the Miami International Airport yesterday. The fact is Air
Marshals over-reacted when dealing with a Middle Eastern looking passenger
who was experiencing a "fear of flying" panic attack.
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- The victim, Mr. Rigoberto Alpizar, according to his accompanying
wife, is a bi-polar patient who ran out of his medications during their
trip. While waiting for the airplane to take off on the next leg of the
American Airline flight, Mr. Alpizar panicked and wanted to get off the
airplane. He started to run down the isle towards the door when two Air
Marshals confronted him. Instead of subduing him physically, they went
for their guns and shot him five or six times. In order to justify the
shooting, the Air Marshals appear to have lied about Mr. Alpizar saying
that he had a bomb. No passenger witnesses have come forward saying that
they heard Mr. Alpizar yell "I have a bomb".
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- Witnesses interviewed after the shooting described instead
how Alpizar's wife tried to tell fellow passengers and Air Marshals that
her husband suffered from bi-polar disorder. "I did hear the lady
say her husband was bipolar and had not had his medication," said
Mary Gardner, a passenger.
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- Accounts by other passengers suggest that Alpizar began
behaving strangely before he was challenged by the Air Marshals. "He
didn't look stable," said fellow passenger John McAlhany. Mr. McAlhany
adds, "They put a gun to the back of my head and said: 'Put your hands
on the seat'. That was more scary than anything else," passenger John
McAlhany said. "'I don't know if they shot an innocent man or not.
I don't think he was armed or had a bomb. I think he had a mental illness,"
Mr. McAlhany added. "I don't think they really had to shoot him,"
Mr. McAlhany concluded.
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- There have now been numerous abuses of Arabs, Blacks
and Latinos by Air Marshals but none have ended in a shooting tragedy.
The fact is that people of color are in more danger from White, usually
veterans of the Iraq War, Air Marshals than from actual terrorists. Many
of the Air Marshals, some who are mentally unstable themselves because
of war experiences, have been trained to shoot first and ask questions
later. Under these circumstance, Latinos Middle Easterners and other people
of color are in dire danger when flying as passengers on American airlines.
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- http://www.aztlan.net/air_marshals_shoot_latino_passenger.htm
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