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Officials: Air marshals right to shoot suspect

MIAMI - By all accounts, Rigoberto Alpizar was frantic as he darted off a plane at Miami International Airport, bumping past passengers and yelling that he needed to get off the aircraft.

Some passengers say they didn't hear him say anything about a bomb. Federal officials say he shouted that he had a bomb in his bag, and ignored instructions to get down. When he reached for the bag, the marshals opened fire, killing him.

No bomb was found after Wednesday's shooting. Witnesses said his wife, Anne Buechner, shouted amid the chaos that he was bipolar, and hadn't taken his medication.

The White House and others on Thursday defended the marshals' actions, saying they acted properly when they shot the 44-year-old Costa Rican immigrant.

"The bottom line is, we're trained to shoot to stop the threat," said John Amat, national operations vice president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and a deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in Miami.

"These guys were in a very tense situation. In their minds they had to believe this person was an imminent threat to themselves or the people on the plane," Amat said.

Both air marshals were hired in 2002 from other federal law enforcement agencies and are now on administrative leave, said Homeland Security spokesman Brian Doyle.

Miami-Dade police were investigating and the medical examiner's office was performing an autopsy.

Some passengers on the Orlando-bound flight said they didn't hear Alpizar mention a bomb.

"I absolutely never heard the word "bomb' at all," said John McAlhany, who was returning from a Key West fishing trip.

Alpizar appeared agitated before boarding the plane and was singing Go Down Moses as his wife tried to calm him, said passenger Alan Tirpak.

"The wife was telling him, "Calm down. Let other people get on the plane. It will be all right,' " Tirpak said.

McAlhany said Alpizar told his wife, "I've got to get off the plane," then bumped passengers and flight attendants on his way down the aisle.

"When he got to the first-class cabin, the marshals jumped up," McAlhany said. "After that, it was on the jetway. Only those two air marshals and God know what happened."

Alpizar and his wife had been returning to their Central Florida home from a missionary trip to Ecuador, where he was handing out eyeglasses to the poor.

[Last modified December 10, 2005, 00:52:07]