Knife-Wielding U.S. Citizen Fatally Shot After Hijacking Aircraft in Belize

A U.S. citizen allegedly hijacked a small aircraft at knifepoint in Belize on Thursday, April 17, in keeping with police.

Akinyela Sawa Taylor, 49, allegedly hijacked a Tropic Air Belize aircraft and was certainly one of 14 passengers, officers stated, per ABC Information. The aircraft was touring from Corozal to San Pedro.

Round 8:30 a.m., Taylor took management of the aircraft earlier than takeoff as a result of he needed extra gasoline so he might go away Belize. Nonetheless, the plane circled for hours earlier than touchdown safely at Ladyville airport. 

In the course of the flight, Taylor allegedly stabbed two passengers, Fitzgerald Brown and Jair Castañeda, and the pilot, Howell Grange. One of many passengers who had a licensed firearm shot Taylor because the aircraft landed. 

The injured passengers and pilot survived. Nonetheless, they have been airlifted to a hospital for therapy. Taylor was additionally taken to the hospital, however he was pronounced useless on arrival, per Newsweek. 

Taylor was refused entry into the nation over the weekend, so officers are investigating how he entered Belize, police stated. He was a navy veteran and former soccer coach at McCluer North Excessive Faculty in Florissant, Mo., per Reuters.

U.S. Embassy spokesperson Luke Martin in Belize stated that Taylor was insistent on returning to the U.S., including that the embassy is working with native police.

“We do not know why he needed to return to america,” Martin stated, per Newsweek.

Throughout a press briefing on Thursday, U.S. State Division spokesperson Tammy Bruce known as the incident “horrifying.”

“We’re grateful, I feel all of us are, that that didn’t flip right into a mass casualty occasion with, I imagine over a dozen folks on the aircraft. Clearly, we all know a number of particulars. We do not know rather more,” Bruce stated.

Belize’s Commissioner of Police Chester Williams stated at a press convention that the incident “is one thing that’s going to be mentioned intensively on the subsequent nationwide safety council assembly,” per ABC Information.

Williams added that the pilot did an “distinctive job” within the harmful scenario.

Tropic Air Belize CEO Maximillian Greif echoed Williams’ sentiment, calling the pilot’s actions “nothing in need of heroic,” per ABC Information.

“Our pilots bear rigorous coaching to reply successfully and effectively to any scenario, and right now we pause to acknowledge the bravery, ability and management that introduced our plane residence safely,” Greif stated, including that the corporate is providing “all accessible assist” to the injured passengers.

Need to sustain with the most recent crime protection? Join PEOPLE’s free True Crime e-newsletter for breaking crime information, ongoing trial protection and particulars of intriguing unsolved circumstances.          

Representatives for the Belize Airport Concession Firm, the U.S. State Division and Tropic Air Belize didn’t instantly reply to PEOPLE’s request for extra data on Thursday.