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LEOMINSTER, Mass. — The music was blaring one February afternoon when Francisco Torres stopped by a Massachusetts barbershop, saying he was half angel, half satan.

He needed a dozen individuals to come back exterior the shop and shoot him with an computerized weapon saved within the trunk of his automotive. Earlier than anybody may perceive the request, Torres left the shop and left. They by no means noticed a gun and it by no means got here again.

I did not perceive what he was saying, however then I noticed he was speaking a few gun. I advised him there are children in right here, why are you saying that, stated Saul Perez, who was visiting pals on the retailer and famous that an worker referred to as 911, introduced the children to the again and closed the shop. I used to be scared.

The incident happened a few week earlier than Torres was arrested for assaulting a flight attendant and attempting to open the airplane’s emergency door on a United flight from Los Angeles to Boston earlier this month.

Controversies on flights have flared because the pandemic started, with some altercations recorded and replayed endlessly on social media.

In a video shot by a fellow passenger, Torres loudly threatens to kill individuals and guarantees a massacre earlier than charging to the entrance of the airplane, the place a gaggle of passengers lowered him to the bottom to restrain him.

He stays behind bars pending a psychological well being analysis, with a court docket ruling that he could at the moment endure from a psychological sickness or defect that renders him mentally incompetent.

Torres objected to the evaluation by his federal public defender, Joshua Hanie, who didn’t return a name Thursday searching for extra remark. A relative of Torres wouldn’t touch upon the case.

The flight assault was a part of a decades-long sample of Torres displaying indicators of psychological sickness. He hung out in psychological well being services, in response to since-closed lawsuits he filed in 2021 and 2022 towards two hospitals in Massachusetts. Torres says in one of many lawsuits he claimed he was misdiagnosed with a psychological sickness and, within the different, that he was discriminated towards as a result of he was vegan.

In December 2022, police confronted him at his Worcester County residence, the place he was exterior in his underwear saying he was protesting local weather change, in response to a police report. On one other event in 2021, police responded to a name from his mom who reported him yelling demise threats out the window. He advised the police he was in World Struggle 3 and had a particular system that gave him tremendous sonic listening to,” which he used to listen to his neighbors speak about.

His case historical past illustrates the challenges airways and federal regulators face when dealing with passengers like Torres. Particularly since consultants say proof reveals that these with psychological sickness are extra usually victims of crime than these accountable for committing violent acts.

Regardless of repeated run-ins with police, authorities stated he hardly ever acted violently. He was as soon as accused of grabbing his mom’s hand, however these fees had been dismissed. He didn’t legally personal a gun, regardless that he usually talked about weapons. And there have been no indicators of hassle when he boarded that cross-county flight final month, a passenger stated, or through the first 5 hours within the air.

He is actually a non-violent offender,” stated Leominster Police Chief Aaron Kennedy, who’s acquainted with Torres from earlier assaults. This man was fairly gentle.

And even when previous incidents have raised crimson flags, consultants stated there’s not a lot airways can or ought to do. Airways say they don’t share banned passenger lists with one another, though there have been just a few circumstances so notorious that the passenger’s identify grew to become broadly recognized.

The FBI maintains a no-fly listing of individuals suspected of terrorism, to which particular brokers and different approved authorities officers can submit names for consideration.

Folks with psychological sickness are usually not barred from boarding a airplane, in response to Jeffrey Value, an aviation security skilled at Metropolitan State College in Denver. Federal legislation offers US residents a public proper of passage by navigable airspace, he stated.

Laws backed by airways and their labor unions was launched in Congress final 12 months to create a brand new no-fly listing that features individuals charged or fined for interfering with airline crews. The payments died and not using a listening to within the Senate or Home, however supporters plan to deliver them again later this month.

A number of Republican senators opposed the proposal, saying it could possibly be used to punish critics of the federal rule requiring passengers to put on masks even to equate them with terrorists. From January 2021 to April 2022, whereas the federal masks mandate was nonetheless in impact, the overwhelming majority of unruly passenger incidents reported by airways concerned masks disputes, in response to Federal Aviation Administration knowledge.

Some liberal teams additionally opposed the laws, arguing that the present no-fly listing of individuals suspected of terrorism is opaque and unfair.

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the federal government a number of instances over the previous decade on behalf of people that did not know why they had been on the listing or the right way to get off it. The ACLU additionally accused the FBI of placing some individuals on the listing to stress them into turning into informants in counterterrorism investigations towards Muslim communities within the US.

An airline captain can determine to not fly a specific passenger, although flight attendants say that often occurs when a passenger seems to be intoxicated.

The federal government runs what it calls trusted traveler packages, corresponding to TSA PreCheck, which lets people who find themselves fingerprinted and pace by background checks by safety with out eradicating footwear, belts, jackets and laptops from their luggage. Folks might be denied PreCheck for sure crimes, which extends to these discovered not responsible by motive of madness. However in fact individuals who refuse PreCheck can nonetheless fly.

Including vacationers like Torres to any no-fly listing or barring them from a flight raises various logistical and constitutional points. And figuring out who will get on a listing could be controversial in a rustic that prides itself on defending particular person rights and holding well being data personal by following strict HIPAA guidelines.

Moreover, having a psychological well being problem” just isn’t “a prediction, essentially, that somebody can have outbursts, have unpredictable conduct,” stated Lynn Bufka, a psychologist and chief transformation officer on the American Psychological Affiliation. This won’t be a superb indicator to find out whether or not somebody ought to board safely or not.

Earlier than Torres grew to become agitated and threatened these round him, fellow passenger Jason Loomis stated he didn’t exhibit any unusual conduct throughout boarding and was quiet for the beginning of the flight. Hours later, nonetheless, Loomis noticed his breakout. At first, he spoke to Torres to attempt to calm him down, however when Torres’ anger escalated, Loomis joined different passengers to restrain him.

Nonetheless, Loomis stated he could not think about holding Torres off the flight within the first place. As a substitute, he stated it was a reminder that society must take higher care of the mentally unwell.

I do know there’s been lots of speak about airplane security and safety lately, however this was a really uncommon incidence,” Loomis stated. “It wasn’t like he was yelling on the airport. He was not threatening something. It was good after which one thing broke.