US: The White House has defended the fatal shooting of an unarmed American Airlines passenger by air marshals at Miami airport but promised that an inquiry would consider if changes should be made to their operating procedures.
Rigoberto Alpizar, an American citizen, was killed on Wednesday as he ran from an aircraft before take-off. Officials said he claimed to have a bomb in his backpack but witnesses said the man might have been mentally ill.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Homeland Security officials were working with the FBI and Miami police to establish what had happened.
"I don't think anyone wants to see it come to a situation like this, but these marshals appear to have acted in a way that is consistent with the extensive training that they have received," he said.
Witnesses said that as Mr Alpizar left his seat to leave the aircraft, his wife called after him to come back. They said that when two undercover air marshals challenged him to stop, his wife shouted that he was bipolar and had not taken his medication.
Federal Air Marshal Service spokesman Dave Adams said the air marshals had acted in accordance with their training when Mr Alpizar appeared to be a threat to their lives.
"He was running down the aisle of the aircraft saying: 'I have a bomb in my bag'. The federal air marshals pursued him and told him to stop, they were police. Stop, drop the bag, he didn't comply. He started to approach them with his hand in the bag. They told him to drop to the ground, drop the bag, and he refused. At that point, they felt their lives and others' lives were in jeopardy," he said.
When Mr Alpizar's bag was examined after the shooting, no explosives were found and officials said he had no terrorist links. One of his neighbours in Orlando, Florida, said that Mr Alpizar, who worked in a home supply shop, was returning from a missionary trip in Ecuador.
Wednesday's shooting was the first such incident since September 11th, 2001, when the United States recruited thousands of air marshals to travel undercover on domestic and international flights.
The agents always travel in groups of at least two and usually sit towards the front of the aircraft to protect the pilot.
Mr Adams said that air marshals complete a robust training course and continue to train every day.
"This was a textbook scenario and they acted instinctively, based on their training," they said.
An aviation magazine reported last year that the Homeland Security inspector general found that 104 air marshals recruited from the federal Bureau of Prisons were involved in 155 separate cases of misconduct in their former jobs. Violations included physically abusing an inmate, misuse of government property and falling asleep on the job.