A US veteran was shot dead on board a Caribbean passenger flight Thursday after he stabbed three people and tried to hijack the plane, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Akinyela Taylor, 49, smuggled a knife on to an 8am Tropic Air service from Corozal Municipal Airport in Belize to the island of Ambergris Caye.
Taylor demanded the pilot of the Cessna Caravan, carrying 14 passengers – including two American nationals and a child – change course and head overseas, according to authorities.
Police Commissioner Chester Williams said Taylor stabbed three people ‘to send a message’ while the pilot circled erratically over Belizean airspace and complained that he was running low on fuel.
The plane came into land two hours later at the Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport in Belize City but did a last second go around as cops waited on the tarmac to surround the hijacker.
It’s at this stage that one of the injured passengers pulled out a handgun and blasted Taylor in the chest, Williams said.
The hero pilot – named locally as Howell Grange – somehow kept his cool and was able to land the turboprop safely just after 10am as it was running out of fuel.
Officers found Taylor bleeding badly inside and took him to hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Pilot Howell Grange was able to land the turboprop safely after 10am, right after Taylor had been shot by another passenger with a handgun and just as it was running out of fuel
Two passengers are being treated for their wounds, one critical.
‘He was saying he wanted to be taken out of the country,’ Williams told reporters, revealing that a passenger had been secretly texting updates to police throughout the hijack.
The shooter who brought down Taylor is named locally as businessman Fitzgerald Brown, 60, the owner of a Jamaican restaurant in Ambergris Caye.
Police said he was one of three people taken to the hospital, along with the pilot and a manager from Tropic Air who was on the flight.
‘The hijacker was shot in the chest. What we gathered from one of the passengers who was injured is that as the plane landed, he shot the hijacker.
‘He had a licensed firearm, and he was the one who shot the hijacker. He handed his firearm over to us.
‘Sadly, that passenger is in a critical condition because he was stabbed in the back and his lung seems to have been collapsing.’
He added: ‘He’s our hero, I must say, for today … the hijacker is dead.’
Scary moments US veteran tries to hijack passenger flight in Belize
One passenger that was wounded by Taylor’s stabbing spree. Two passengers are being treated for their wounds, one critical
The flight path 8am Tropic Air service from Corozal Municipal Airport in Belize to the island of Ambergris Caye
Authorities faced immediate questions about how a knife and a gun were taken on board the flight out of Corozal.
Williams clarified that the tiny airstrip was not equipped with metal detectors but that urgent discussions would take place to address security.
But once the doors to the plane closed, the harrowing experience for the passengers on board, at the mercy of Taylor, appears to have begun only a few minutes of the ground.
Flight data suggests the plane had a straightforward take off from Corozal airport, but minutes later plunged to just 900 feet above the ground.
It gained altitude but continued to behave erratically, diving several more times, as low as 500 feet at one point, before circling the coast and finally touching down in Belize City an hour and 52 minutes later.
A video sent midflight to a Belize news outlet revealed passengers, one bleeding from a cut to the head, looking towards the cockpit in terrified silence.
Taylor’s LinkedIn page says he attended Columbia College in St Louis and was a Joint Interface Control Officer with the 157th Air Operations Group, based out of the same city.
Taylor tried to enter Belize at the weekend via the northern border with Mexico but was turned away, according to authorities, only to enter illegally.
His last known address in the US was in St. Louis, according to public records.
Tropic CEO Maximillian Greif released a statement praising the pilot’s airmanship and heroism: ‘Earlier today, a Tropic Air flight faced a serious and unprecedented in-flight emergency.
‘In the face of incomprehensible pressure, our pilot acted with extraordinary courage and calm, guiding the aircraft to a safe landing. His actions were nothing short of heroic.
‘A number of passengers sustained injuries and are currently receiving medical care. Our hearts are with them, and we are offering all available support.’
The Belize Airports Authority promised to bolster safety and security in the aftermath of the bloody midair melee. They said it would roll out bag checks and scanners to municipal airstrips so that they meet the same standards as international airports. (The Mail Online)