Salon aviation columnist Patrick Smith on the shooting of Rigoberto Alpizar by U.S. air marshalls.

An excerpt: (free with a day pass)

Wednesday's incident fulfills what many of us predicted ever since the Federal Air Marshals Service was widely expanded following the 2001 terror attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington: The first person killed by a sky marshal, whether through accident or misunderstanding, would not be a terrorist. In a lot of ways, Alpizar is the latest casualty of Sept. 11. He is not the victim of a trigger-happy federal marshal but of our own, now fully metastasized security mania.

Although Alpizar had lived in the United States for two decades, he was born in Costa Rica. Speaking on Alpizar's behalf, Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco said he would push for an inquiry, taking the opportunity to indict the American mindset. "It was a painful event," Pacheco told a radio interviewer. "But you have to understand the level of paranoia under which the Americans live regarding terrorism." ...

In the moments that followed the shooting, the remaining 113 passengers on flight 924 were paraded onto the tarmac, hands on their heads, and taken away for questioning. The entire terminal was shut down. The FBI spoke of potential terrorist plots and were "looking to see if there's a nexus." Security was beefed up in terminals nationwide. Here at my hometown airport, Boston's Logan, state police reinforcements were called in, some toting assault weapons. Speaking in the Boston Globe, an airport spokeswoman described that response as "prudent."

In other words, the tragedy in Miami is apt to result in yet another round of heightened security at airports all over the nation. With the Christmas travel rush looming, the timing couldn't be worse, and rest assured some officials and politicians will be using Wednesday's shooting as fodder to rail against the planned relaxation of carry-on rules.

Smith claims some passengers are now claiming Alzipar made no mention of a bomb (although he did reach into a bag) and that his wife had attempted to intervene, explaining her husband was bipolar and forgot to take his medicine. While she spoke Spanish, at least one of the air marshalls on the scene was fluent in Spanish.

In the days ahead, you can expect sharp debate on whether the killing was justified, and whether the nation's several thousand air marshals -- their exact number is a tightly guarded secret -- undergo sufficient training. How are they taught to deal with mentally ill individuals who might be unpredictable and unstable, but not necessarily dangerous? Are the rules of engagement overly aggressive?

Those are fair questions, but not the most important ones.