Related: Shots fired on board American Airline plane in US 

         US air marshals shoots passenger dead

American Airlines Flight 924, a Boeing 757, sits at Gate 42 at Miami International Airport, December 7, 2005.(Photo: Xinhua/REUTERS)

    Beijing, Dec. 8 (Xinhuanet)-- The killing of Alpizar, a 44-year-old US citizen, by air marshals at Miami International Airport deeply shocked his family.

    "We're all still in shock. We're just speechless," his sister-in-law, Kelley Buechner, was quoted as saying in a telephone interview from Milwaukee by CBS.

    "He was a nice guy, always smiling, always talkative," said Louis Gunther, a neighbor who said he was watching Alpizar's home while he and his wife were on a missionary-type trip. "Everybody is talking about a guy I know nothing about."

    Alpizar on Wednesday was gunned down on a jetway Wednesday afternoon just before his American Airlines plane was about to leave for Orlando.

    He was ordered to stop by the air marshal, and was shot and wounded when he tried to run away on the jetway linking the plane to the terminal at the airport.

    A Homeland Security official in Washington later confirmed that the passenger was dead.

    "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.

    Miami-Dade police are conducting a homicide investigation into the shooting, said James Bauer, the agent in charge of the air marshals' Miami office.

    However, the air marshals' actions were defended by officials who noted that marshals are trained to take all potential threats seriously ¡ª and to respond to bomb threats with lethal force.

    "This whole neighborhood is shocked. ... Totally uncharacteristic of the guy," said Alex McLeod, 16, who lives three houses down on the opposite side of the street from Alpizar.   

    The US air marshals service said it was the first time one of them had actually fired on a passenger since the program was beefed up after September 11. Enditem

    (Agencies)