Shooting by Federal Air Marshals

Earlier this month (December), two federal air marshals shot and killed an unarmed airplane passenger in Miami, Florida. According to a December 9 CNN report on their website, the 44 year old man who was shot had just boarded a plane in Miami to fly home to Orlando when he allegedly announced he was carrying a bomb. After the air marshals repeatedly asked the man to drop the bag onto the floor and did not do so, they fired several shots and killed him. When all was said and done, no explosives were found onboard the aircraft. The marshals claim they acted within their training and in the best interest of everyone's safety. Several witnesses claim they noticed the man was agitated and heard his wife say her husband was sick just prior to the shooting. In fact, this man suffers from bipolar disorder which can explain many aspects of this tragic event. How could this situation have been handled differently or avoided? Do you think it would have helped if the authorities knew about his medical condition? What would you have done if you were one of these air marshals (in light of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center)? Below is the link for the CNN report about the shooting.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/12/08/airplane.gunshot/