Was it fair for that Miami man,Bipolar/manic...

[cowgirl_up1967]

...depression,to be shot and killed by law enforcement?

[albo]

No, he was already off the plane and endangering nobody but himself. He obviously didn't have a bomb, his luggage had been screened, and his behavior was enough to show that he was simply off his medications. Basically he was murdered because he forgot to take his medications.

[latham_m4]

this was a truly unjustified act. i feel horible for his family especially this close to the holidays.

[attitudecomesfar]

The question is not if that was fair or unfair.The question is: have the law agents to dare when a guy said he has a bomb? what are the steps they have to take to assure it is true? Probably the procedure was wrong because they took an innocent as a guilty but not the resolution of the situation because it the conclusion was: he is a danger for the rest of the passengers and so they acted in a right way.there is a good chance now to know how to treat people with mental or psicology problems in those situations in order not to harm themselves and harm society, probably to have an identification as a ill man/woman previous to taking off can be useful for the plane staff and the law agents to entittle acurately the deepth of the threaten in case of losing control.

[mreshouse87]

It is entirely feasable for an air marshal to think a man with a backpack claiming to have a bomb is a threat worthy of using deadly force. Hindsight is 20/20. If airport security could detect all weapons carried onto commercial airplanes then the government would not have granted the money to increase the number of air marshals since 9/11. The man made a conscious decision to board an aircraft without taking his medication. It may not have been fair he had his mental illness but it is also unfair to punish a law enforcement officer for making a logical decision in a difficult situation.

[matt the librarian]

I don't think it is a matter of fair or not. It is really terrible that the man was shot and killed, but we live in dangerous times. It is unfortunate that we are so very afraid but world events have made us so. Attacks by people wearing bombs who blow themselves up along with the victims are an all too frequent occurance. As we all know airplanes are targets and sometimes weapons for terrorist attacks. Police officers usually do not have to resort to shooting someone to stop them or arrest them. In this case it was unfortunate that they had to shoot the man. This is different that a bank robbery or other more common crime in that the man was wearing or carrying a back pack of some type. From what the media reported the man ran screaming up the aisle of the aircraft with a FAA Agent behind him. He was told to stop and show his hands but he did not do so, in fact he reached into the back pack. He could have been reaching in to detinate a bomb which could have killed everyone on the aircraft. Just like the shooting in London of the man from Brail a few months ago in which anti-terrorism officers shot him twice once in the body and once to the head they were trying to prevent the detonation of a bomb. Sadly in that case the man was simply an innocent tourist who was running to catch a train. In this case it was important to stop the man from reaching into his bag to get what he was going for, perhaps a bomb trigger. While nothing has been released yet it is most probable that he was shot in the same way - a shot to the body and a shot to the head. If the suspect is not killed instantly with a gunshot to the head he may linger on long enough to detonate the bomb. This type of training originated in Israel where suicide bombers are frequently causing terror. Is it fair, well is what fair. Is it fair that a man who was mentally ill was shot because he was acting strangely...no. Is it fair that his encouraged him to fly when he was not taking his medication...no. Is it fair that we live in a world where we are scared to death every time we fly to visit relatives or for a business meeting...no. But who can we blame for this unfairness. We can't blame the FAA Agents they were protecting the innocent passengers from what could have been a bomb. We can't blame the man's wife because she could not have imagined he would act so strangely or she would not have encouraged him to fly. The only people we can blame is those that have turned the world into a killing field we can blame terrorists, we can blame murderers, we can blame ruthless despots who hold their own people enslaved. If the world doesn't change the word fair will cease to exist as nothing can be fair when killing people is the way to solve disputes.