Flight Passengers Tackle Man Rushing For Cockpit Screaming "Jihad"
[There was a video here]
A United Airlines flight bound for Denver was forced to return to Dulles International Airport Monday night after a passenger sprinting to the plane's cockpit allegedly yelling about jihad was subdued by a group of passengers.
Officially, a United Airlines rep told NBC News, the plane returned to Dulles because a passenger "failed to comply with crew instructions."
Video purportedly taken by a passenger (above) on the plane was posted to Reddit by user iLL_D soon after the flight landed:
This just happened, my father was on the plane and took this picture. Will post videos and more pictures if people are interested. He was screaming and sprinting towards the cockpit. Several large passengers tackled him before he even reached the door.
Other passenger's accounts appear to square with the Reddit posting, with Donna Tillam telling ABC News, "One held his feet and the other one kind of laid on top of him and then the flight attendants went and got some plastic restraints for his arms. At one point when his head was down he said there were jihadists in the cargo hold and he did say jihad a couple times."
A spokesperson for Dulles told the Washington Post that the man detained by officers was "transported to a local hospital for evaluation."
Update 3, 10:50 a.m.: The video, from just after passengers pinned the man to the floor, has since been made private on the uploader's YouTube account. We've embedded that video.
Update 2, 9:10 a.m.: A government source confirms to CNN that the man did indeed yell, "jihad, jihad" while rushing toward the cockpit, but "there is nothing, so far, in the man's background to suggest he has a connection to terrorists."
Update, 8:50 a.m.: Donna Tillam elaborated on her experience on the plane to the Washington Post, apparently texting her husband as events unfolded:
He made it to the area where flight attendants typically sit outside the cockpit area before three men tackled him, she recalled to her husband.
Tillam also told her husband that the passenger was saying "jihadists" were on the plane, but authorities have given no details on the incident.
Those who allegedly took him down, according to Tillam's husband, were saying "take off his shoes, check for bombs."
