Ziad Jarrah, hijack suspect.
photo courtesy www.FBI.gov
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Bad Guys Trained Too We've heard about how the passengers onboard United Flight 93, which
crashed in rural Pennsylvania, stormed the hijackers that took over their
plane. One of the passengers involved in the counter-assault, Jeremy
Glick, was a trained martial artist--a judo champion.
What's just becoming known is that at least one of the suspected hijackers onboard Flight 93 was also trained in the martial arts. Ziad Samir Jarrah, thought to be at the helm of Flight 93 when it crashed, trained under Bert Rodriguez and Carlos Goni of Dania Beach, Florida.
Miami television station WPLG reported that Jarrah started training at the US 1 Fitness Center in May, and stopped attending classes in August. WPLG quoted Goni stating that Jarrah wanted to learn counter-knife and gun techniques. Jarrah, 26 years old, had rented an apartment just blocks away.
CNN reported that Jarrah paid about $1,000 to learn "street-fighting and self-defense techniques" during private lessons. According to CNN, Rodriguez trained Jarrah how to disarm gun and knife-wielding attackers using rubber training knives.
Jarrah's hands-on training contrasts to the items found at the residence of another suspected hijacker, Marwan Al-Shehhi. According to the Florida Today newspaper, Al-Shehhi and another Arab man living at the Panther Motel in Deerfield Beach left behind martial arts books along with Boeing 757 manuals and East Coast flight charts. Al-Shehhi was onboard United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
For more information, check out the resources here at About Martial Arts.