Every couple of weeks you read about a flight that’s experienced a bomb threat. These threats are, of course, all taken VERY seriously and, at least in the U.S., local police as well as the FBI and the bomb squad are all involved.
Usually, you just read about the bomb threat after everything has been said and done and everyone involved is safe…and then you never hear about it again. But for a particular bomb threat that happened late last year, we recently got to see something else – the footage of when the authorities came onto the plane after it made an emergency landing, and their arrest of the person who made the bomb threat.
On Oct. 2, 2022, American Airlines flight 928 originated in Dallas and was scheduled to land at Albuquerque International Sunport. However Federal officials say that during the flight, Keith Diemer, 35, sent false messages to fellow airline passengers using the Apple AirDrop system.
“The messages warned passengers that he was going to blow up the plane and that there was a bomb on the plane. [The suspect’s] false threats forced the plane to use emergency protocols to land,” a news release read.
Sidney, a passenger on the plane, told Albuquerque local news KOB4, “At 8:27 I started receiving AirDrop notifications. I declined the first one and I accepted the second one and it said ‘you will die today,.'”
Sydney said she received another AirDrop with the same message and as the flight continued, more passengers got similar disturbing messages via AirDrop.
“Another girl from Albuquerque she received another AirDrop and she accepted and it said “with a bomb” just three words, so she took it immediately to the flight attendant on board,” said Sydney.
The American Airlines flight attendants told the unnamed girl that they were contacting the authorities but to keep them posted if she got any more threats. She got the 4th message on her phone a short time later.
“About 15 min later she got another request on her phone, and it said she accepted it, and it said ‘bomb on plane’ three words again. And after she accepted it she took it back to the flight attendants that she had talked to and that’s when they called the bomb squad,” Sydney continued.
When the plane landed, it was kept a far distance from the airport and quickly surrounded by authorities.
“To be honest I was scared for my life when I realized what was– I guess when we jolted the plane to a stop was when I started to get scared, cause I started to realize ‘you will die today’ is not a funny joke and that it could be more serious,” said Sydney.
The video footage begins with the FBI and Albuquerque police as they’ve entered the plane. With guns at the ready, they tell all passengers to put their hands on their head and to stay seated, with their heads up. At that point they ask for Keith Deimer to stand up from his seat, which they know is 17F.
Deimer stood up, and the authorities reminded him to keep both hands on the top of his head, to not touch anything, and to walk backwards towards them. Once he was close enough, he was handcuffed by the police and read his rights. Deimer was then escorted down a flight of stairs onto the tarmac. That’s where the video ends.
Here’s the footage:
@lilythern
The plane was evacuated shortly thereafter. The FBI interviewed multiple passengers and required everyone to go through airport security again before they could get their belongings off the plane.
Indianapolis FBI agents arrested Diemer in late January for his involvement in providing hoaxes and other false information. He’s charged with making threats on an airplane. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years.
As for Sydney, she says the experience won’t stop her from flying in the future, but she will always accept AirDrops on the plane from now on.
“Going forward I will always be turning my AirDrop on in the airport because the FBI said it is safest to know things ahead of time, and I will always take that direction and tell my flight attendants right away if I receive anything,” she said.
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