Shooting on a plane in Miami

The Air Marshal applied the proper use of gun control. He controlled his weapon and hit exactly where he aimed.

 

Justified I agree, but I'm not yet convinced it was necessary. The smoke hasn't cleared yet and there have been conflicting reports on whether the guy was still on the plane or had disboarded onto the tarmack. I think that his still being on the plane would be most urgent and his running away less so.

I don't know yet what to make of it. It is still unclear to me what happened with Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian guy mistakenly shot as a terrorist in London.

In any case, I do not blame the air marshall.

Well, no, all he would have to do is sit quietly until it was time to blow up everyone, himself included. Most terrorists would have waited until the plane was aloft to make an announcement of that sort.


As I said before, my greatest sympathy is for his wife who knew what was happening but could do nothing to prevent it.

 

And, frankly, I'm happy to have Air Marshalls aboard any airplane that I'm on (but I'd rather drive even though the risk is approximately 140 times greater in the USA of dying in an auto than on a plane, iirc).

 

BTW, being mentally ill doesn't mean that the deranged individual claiming to have a bomb does not in fact have a bomb, or is incapable of detonating said bomb.

The mentally ill can kill you just as dead as the "sane".

HankD

 

Really some bizarre posts here...thankyou Daisy
for wanting all the facts to come out and then
make additional evaluation.

Perhaps we should push back and be fair and actually grieve for someone created in Gods image
who met a deep tragedy while his wife in all her
pleading was trying to save his life.



[additional info]
Alpizar, who worked in the paint department of a home supply store, was returning from a missionary trip in Ecuador, according to a neighbor who was watching his ranch-style house in the Orlando suburb of Maitland.

 

The man was bipolar, a truly serious and debilitating medical condition that I don't wish on my worst enemy. That said, in a crisis situation where lives are threatened, law enforcement officers do not have the luxury of assessing a perpetrator's background.

Yes, I feel for his family and all involved, and agree that this was a truly unfortunate situation, but the air marshalls in good faith responded efficiently and reasonably.

I disagree. I think a person will will likely be traumatized for a while. But that's to be expected sometimes when you make the difficult decision. The bottom line is, the air marshalls acted accordingly and reasonably.

 

And took very careful aim, and eliminated an immediate threat. I think we should all thank him. It's hard to shoot a moving target, let alone there being innocents in the vicinity.

Moreover, my heartfelt prayers go out to this man, and his family, that God gives him the strength of character to ignore the inevitable criticism he will recieve, and the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge he did what he is paid to do.

 

In hindsite we are grieved at his death and that the man was irrational or possibly mentally ill at the time.

But also in hindsite we must realize that the FAMs had no way of immediately knowing if the pleading of the wife was a ploy, deception being one of the forte tactics of homicide bombers.

In addition, being irrational or even being mentally ill, does not exonerate a person from the use of deadly force against him to protect the lives and safety of others.

If we want to play the blame game, why didn't the wife who did the pleading see to it beforehand that he had his medication with him/her?

HankD

 

Exactly.

 

Wow! bizarre stuff going on here...we know for sure Alpizar was a believer and we do not know if the Air Marshall was a believer at all...and yet we get these bizarre posts...as in "great shooting" totally bizarre...all I am saying is
look at the additional information Curtis and grieve for your brother.


I agree with on poster the compassion is lacking
much...very much for a Christian Missionary spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.

 

"I disagree. I think a person will will likely be traumatized for a while."----------------------------------------------------------------------

There is no way to know for sure, Johnv. It depends on his personality and how he sees the shooting. He will be sent to a psycologist for eval. That is standard procedure after a shooting. But from my own personal experience, I think he will be totally comfortable with the situation as far as his perosnal role in it. If the situation is as reported, it is cut and dried. In my personal experience, I went right back on duty, more confident then before, with no doubts about the situation. My bet is this will be the case with this marshal also.

 

How do we know this for sure? I must have missed something somewhere.

 

The agent should have been more compassionate???
Hogwash! When somebody comes on baord an airplane and says he hasa bomb compassion goes out the window.
Faithgirl

 

The agent should have been more compassionate???
Hogwash! When somebody comes on baord an airplane and says he hasa bomb compassion goes out the window.
Faithgirl </font>[/QUOTE]I didn't rea;ize that you were being cynical.
Faithgirl

 

I have often been asked why I did not shoot the perpetrator in the leg or someting. People will ask this without even knowing or thinking through the details. Holliwood has made us think that in the name of compasion we should aim for the legs (that is against most departments polocies, you are required to shoot center mass). But if I had, and he would have then pulled the trigger of the shootgun he was aiming at anohter officer's head- then I would have been truamatized. I would have lost many nights sleep if it had turned out that way. The agent did the only thing any prudent officer would have done. The fact that he did not have a bomb afterall, does not change anything.

 

"missionary trip in Ecuador" does not let us "know for sure" he was a believer. Only God knows that. What denomination was it? Anyone know?

 

The man was bipolar, a truly serious and debilitating medical condition that I don't wish on my worst enemy. That said, in a crisis situation where lives are threatened, law enforcement officers do not have the luxury of assessing a perpetrator's background.

Yes, I feel for his family and all involved, and agree that this was a truly unfortunate situation, but the air marshalls in good faith responded efficiently and reasonably.

I disagree. I think a person will will likely be traumatized for a while. But that's to be expected sometimes when you make the difficult decision. The bottom line is, the air marshalls acted accordingly and reasonably. </font>[/QUOTE]I agree with you. My mainicurist used to work for the Police Dept as a dispatcher, I believe. She told me about an officer who was very traumatized by a shooting. He was never the same after that. God bless these officers' hearts and their minds.
Faithgirl

 

I don't see that the officer had any other choice than to shoot the man.

 

Time will tell. I'm basing my comments on my years of working for a police agency in a non-sworn capacity, at which time, an office had reason to shot and kill an armed gunman. In 10 years on duty, he had never encountered the need to draw his weapon for defense. I remember it hit him hard, but after a few weeks, he was back on duty. He said he had nightmares for weeks afterwards about it.

DOn't get me wrong, if an office can recover and be on the job shortly thereafter, great. The only time I would be concerned is if an officer killed a person and it didn't affect him at all.

 

Time will tell. I'm basing my comments on my years of working for a police agency in a non-sworn capacity, at which time, an office had reason to shot and kill an armed gunman. In 10 years on duty, he had never encountered the need to draw his weapon for defense. I remember it hit him hard, but after a few weeks, he was back on duty. He said he had nightmares for weeks afterwards about it.

DOn't get me wrong, if an office can recover and be on the job shortly thereafter, great. The only time I would be concerned is if an officer killed a person and it didn't affect him at all. </font>[/QUOTE]That would be very traumatic for an officer to go through.We need to pray for all of our police officers and their familes.
Faithgirl46