Zero Tolerance sure applies here
I was tempted to put 'Zero Tolerance' in the title rather than the subtitle so I could get more looks, but I held back.
U.S. air marshals on Wednesday shot and killed an American Airlines passenger who claimed to be carrying a bomb in his backpack at Miami International Airport. He was disembarking from a flight that had just arrived at Miami from Medellin, Colombia.
Let me get this straight: a man who had just landed in America starts breaking for the door, pushing through the crowd in the aisle. They are trying to get their carry-on bags from their overhead compartments, and he's shouting he has a bomb and making for the door. Not a good situation.
Complicating things, the flight just came from Medellin, Colombia. Pablo Escobar's homies are from there; not the most secure place in the western hemisphere, that's for sure. Medellin Cartel link No assurance that the baggage or the passengers had been properly inspected before departure. No assurance of much of anything, since the plane was coming from abroad, to be honest. There are several airports in the world where lax to no security checks take place, especially to the American standard. If we can't find everyone (see 9/11), then how can we expect every little podunk third-world backwater airport to inspect shoes?
So the guy decides that he doesn't want to play nice with the air marshals. From Reuters:
"Many details of the shooting remain confused, but officials in Washington said the man tried to flee, ignored an order to put his bag on the ground and was shot on the passenger gangway.
"The passenger then reached into his carry-on bag, at which point, consistent with air marshal training, the air marshals took the appropriate actions. Shots were fired as the team attempted to subdue the subject," said a Department of Homeland Security spokesman."
No kidding they shot him! He was clearly disobeying their instructions and reaching into his bag. For all the air marshals knew, he had a detonator in there. They acted in order to save the 300 people on the flight, as well as many other hundreds in the terminal.
All I can say is NICE JOB, AIR MARSHALS!