"Local Man Tells Different Story About Shooting At Miami Airport"

Friday, December 9, 2005

Witnesses in Miami airport shooting differ on whether Alpizar made bomb
threat
By John Holland, Brian Haas and Sean Gardiner
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel


A troubled man, a tense standoff and only seconds to decide whether to shoot
or wait. It's a difficult but common situation for police officers and
others with a gun and a badge.

But when it plays out at a busy airport and an unarmed man ends up dead,
shot by those hired specifically to make airlines and passengers safer,
nothing is routine. Toss in fears of terrorism in the post-9-11 era, mental
illness and threats of a bomb, and Wednesday's shooting by federal air
marshals at Miami International Airport becomes heavily scrutinized.

So far, the investigation into Rigoberto Alpizar's final minutes aboard an
American Airlines 757 that was to take off for Orlando is focusing on his
wild rage and whether he said he had a bomb.

Federal officials from several agencies said Alpizar repeatedly made that
claim and reached for a backpack, leaving the two air marshals little choice
but to open fire on the jetway just outside the plane's doors.

Several of the 113 passengers who arrived in Orlando from Miami, however,
said Alpizar may have been delusional and may have run out of the plane only
because he feared a bomb was on board.

"I can tell you, he never said a thing in that airplane; he never called out
he had a bomb," said passenger Jorge Borelli, an Orlando architect.

The task of sorting out exactly what happened falls mainly to the Miami-Dade
Police Department, which is in charge of the homicide investigation.
Miami-Dade police Lt. Veronica Ferguson issued a statement saying early
indications point to Alpizar running frantically from the airplane "with a
backpack strapped to his chest, yelling that he had a bomb."

Detective Juan Del Castillo said people on the plane other than the marshals
also heard the bomb threats. Del Castillo said Alpizar's threats and the
marshal's orders to him were all in English.

After running from the plane, Alpizar, 44, of Maitland, turned in the
jetway, walked menacingly toward the agents and reached into his backpack,
police said. Marshals stepped back before firing at Alpizar, who died at the
scene, police said.

Police would not say whether he made the threats on the airplane, on the
jetway or in both locations. The marshals, who were not identified, have
been put on paid administrative leave until completion of the investigation.

What prompted Alpizar to become so unstable is also under investigation. His
wife, Anne Buechner, told investigators he had bipolar disorder and hadn't
taken his medication. The couple was in Ecuador doing church missionary work
and had flown in from Ecuador about two hours earlier. They had just boarded
the plane to Orlando for the final leg home.

Alpizar's friends and family in the Orlando area described him as a
friendly, well-liked man who never had any problems.

"Rigo Alpizar was a loving, gentle and caring husband, uncle, brother, son
and friend," Jeanne Jentsch, Buechner's sister, said in a brief statement at
the family's home. "He was born in Costa Rica and became a proud American
citizen several years ago. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him."

The shooting was the first since the current Federal Air Marshal Service
program went into effect following the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings and
terrorist attacks. The exact number of marshals is classified, although
officials acknowledge there are several thousand, assigned in groups of two
to flights across the country.

All air marshals go through a seven-week course in Artesia, N.M., which
includes a course called "managing abnormal behavior," according to Homeland
Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle.

After that, they take a six-week course in Atlantic City, which involves
training for various scenarios covering drunken passengers, terrorist
threats, passengers who exhibit violent behavior and other situations, Doyle
said.

Jim Bauer, special agent in charge of the air marshals' office in Miami,
said the shooting was tragic for everyone involved but justified.

"This threat presented itself, and we believe it was necessary to use deadly
force," Bauer said.

Bauer said the two air marshals had no contact with Alpizar until they
overheard him threatening that he had a bomb. He said mental illness in this
case is irrelevant.

"It really doesn't play into this at all. There's no time in making these
split-second decisions to analyze their mental health," Bauer said. "It is
truly an unfortunate event whether or not he was afflicted with any medical
condition."

Officials with the Transportation Security Administration said Thursday that
there is no indication that Alpizar acted irrationally before boarding the
plane, as some passengers reported on Wednesday. Video cameras around Miami
International Airport showed Alpizar acting normally, said TSA spokeswoman
Lauren Stover.

In Costa Rica, the government called for an explanation from the United
States, and President Abel Pacheco partly blamed American "paranoia" about
terrorism. Meanwhile, Alpizar's brother had difficulty understanding why he
was killed.

"They acted rashly," Carlos Alpizar said. "I will never accept that it was
necessary to kill him as if he was some dangerous criminal. It is ironic
that he adopted that country as his own, loved the U.S. as much as he loved
Costa Rica, ... and still he was killed, mistaken for a terrorist."

Attached Photo:

The Alpizar family
Undated family photo shows Rigoberto Alpizar, right, and his wife, Anne
Buechner. Alpizar. Rigoberto Alpizar was shot and killed by a federal air
marshal on Wednesday, Dec. 7, after he bolted frantically from an American
Airlines jetliner that was boarding for take off at Miami International
Airport. No bomb was found.

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