Knife evidence of the US citizen shot deadly after cutting plan in Belize

An American citizen was hijacked a small plane at Knifoint in Belize on Thursday, April 17, according to police.

Akinyla Sawa Taylor, 49, cut a tropical Air Belize plan and was one of 14 passengers, said officials, per ABC News. The aircraft travels from Corozal to San Pedro.

Around 8:30 Taylor took control of the plane before starting because he wanted more fuel so he could leave Belize. However, the aircraft revolved for hours before landing safely at Ladyville Airport.

During the flight, Taylor staked two passengers, Fitzgerald Brown and Jair Castañeda, and the pilot, Howell Grange. One of the passengers who had a licensed firearm shot Taylor when the plane landed.

The injured passengers and pilot survived. However, they were raised to a hospital for treatment. Taylor was also taken to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival, per Newsweek.

Taylor refused entry into the country over the weekend, so officials investigate how he entered Belize, police say. He was a military veteran and former football coach at McCluer North High School in Florissant, Mo., Per Reutants.

The US Embassy spokesman Luke Martin in Belize said that Taylor was insistent to return to the United States and added that the embassy is working with local police.

“We don’t know why he wanted to go back to the United States,” Martin Per Newsweek said.

Under one Press briefing on ThursdayThe US Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Tammy Bruce called the event “scary”.

“We are grateful, I think we all are, that it was not turned into a mass accident event with, I think over a dozen people on the plane. We clearly know that some details. We don’t know much more,” Bruce said.

Belise’s commissioner of police Chester Williams said at a press conference that the incident “is something that will be intensively discussed at the next National Security Council meeting,” Per ABC News.

Williams added that the pilot did an “exceptional job” in the dangerous situation.

Tropic Air Belize CEO Maximillian Greif amounted to Williams feeling and called the pilot’s actions “nothing but heroic”, Per ABC News.

“Our pilots are undergoing strict training to respond efficiently and efficiently to all situations, and today we pause to recognize courage, skill and leadership that brought our aircraft home safely,” Greif said, leaving that the company offers “all available support” to the injured passengers.

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Representatives of the Belize Airport Concession Company, the US State Department and Tropic Air Belize did not immediately respond to people’s request for more information on Thursday.