Akinyela Taylor is not a name that will soon be forgotten in Belize's history. 8 days ago, he hijacked a Tropic Air Flight at knifepoint, changing domestic air travel forever. And in the end, he was killed, which means that the full story of why he did it will always remain unknown.
Not much is known about Taylor, including why he came to Belize, and why he had issues getting back to the US. But in trying to piece together who he was, we discovered that the 49 year old was a father of four, an author, an air force veteran, a football player, among other things.
Courtney Menzies put together the information we know so far. Here is that story.
For Belize, 49 year old Akinyela Taylor will be remembered as the US National who hijacked a domestic flight, stabbed three people, and was shot dead by a civilian.
But who was he before that? This comment from his brother, Thomas Taylor, states that he was a college football player for the University of New Mexico and had a Master's Degree in History.
Other comments say, quote, "Akinyela felt he was under surveillance from the government due to the fact that he spoke out on some issues that he saw while enlisted." End quote. His brother also said, quote, "Akinyela was the best brother that one could have, he looked out for his family. I love my brotherAC dearly, but I realize those individuals had to do what they had to survive." End quote.
Thomas Taylor added that he has been trying to come up with any reasons why his brother would go through with something like this. That's the same question the pilot, Howell Grange had, and he tried asking Taylor while on the flight.
Howell Grange, Tropic Air Pilot
"And the part of when they had a nice silence in the aircraft, I asked him why. I don't know why I asked him but I asked him why. And he told me, is your stepfather sleeping with your wife? I told him no. he said, your country doesn't want to let me go home and the United States doesn't want me there either. I told him, well, all of us have problems, all the time we have problems, people don't like their political leaders. So I tried to get to his mind and calm him down."
"When we were over the water for a long period of time and I saw him starting to sweat and vomit and spit, I said I have him where I want because now I have him second guessing himself, what he had done. At this point I was really wishing he said let's go land and he's just having a bad day and he takes his punishment that he has to take but it worked out how it worked out."
Jules Vasquez:
"You thought that he would lose his resolve?"
Howell Grange, Tropic Air Pilot
"Yeah."
Jules Vasquez:
"And just land the plane now."
Howell Grange, Tropic Air Pilot
"Just land the plane now."
But with Taylor deceased, there will always be more questions than answers. However, what we do know is that he was a veteran of the US Air Force who rose to the rank of Master Sergeant. He won several awards during his 13 years of service from 1999 to 2012, including a Global War On Terrorism Service Medal. And the irony of it is that he died committing an act of terror.
| 