Passenger Never Said "Bomb"

An article from MSNBC updated last night quotes passengers as saying Rigoberto Alpizar, the passenger shot dead by air marshals, never uttered the word bomb. So what really happened?

The air marshals' story seems fairly convenient...who's going to doubt them?:

Federal officials say Rigoberto Alpizar made the threat in the jetway, after running up the plane’s aisle from his seat at the back of the jetliner. They opened fire because the 44-year-old Home Depot employee ignored their orders to stop, reached into his backpack and said he had a bomb, according to authorities.

Alpizar's brother, speaking from Costa Rica, said he would never believe the shooting was necessary.

“I can't conceive that the marshals wouldn't be able to overpower an unarmed, single man, especially knowing he had already cleared every security check,” Carlos Alpizar told The Orlando Sentinel.

It probably never crossed their minds to tackle him instead of shooting? Why? Because they were afraid for their own safety. If Alpizar was in the jetway and no one else was there, the detonation of the bomb would have probably be contained in the jetway. The possibility of the bomb injuring anyone on the plane was surely much higher had Aplizar still been on the plane. So the only people in danger, if there was any, were the air marshals and Alpizar. Tackling the guy would've been too hard. Relying on their guns was the easiest way to ensure their own safety.

What kind of training do these air marshals get anyway? Is it adequate? Apparently they don't even need to pass a marksmanship exam.

Read more about what happened with Alpizar.