New York Times: “Federal 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.
Witnesses said Rigoberto Alpizar ran off a plane bound for Orlando, claiming he had a bomb in his backpack.
Law enforcement officials did not find any explosives in the backpack.
The incident – the first case of an air marshal opening fire since marshals became a common presence on flights after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 – 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 Maitland, Fla., was found to have no bomb. One passenger on the flight told a local television station that Mr. Alpizar’s wife had tried to follow her husband as he ran off the plane, saying he was mentally ill and had not taken his medication.”