<p class="speakable">Authorities at the Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport (P.G.I.A.) say they were alerted to a U.S. man who was hijacking a small <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/travel/regions/central-america" rel="noopener" target="_blank">plane in Belize</a> on Thursday.</p><p class="speakable">The man stabbed two passengers and a pilot, before one of the stabbed passengers fatally shot him, according to officials in Belize and the United States. The passenger was licensed to carry a firearm and later turned his weapon over to the police.</p><p>"We are praying for him," Chester Williams, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/crime/police-and-law-enforcement" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Belize police commissioner</a>, told reporters. "He’s our hero."</p><p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/young-american-tourists-cause-death-revealed-after-they-were-found-motionless-beach-resort" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong>YOUNG AMERICAN TOURISTS' CAUSE OF DEATH REVEALED AFTER THEY WERE FOUND 'MOTIONLESS' AT BEACH RESORT</strong></a></p><p>Williams identified <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/suspect-shoots-passenger-before-hijacking-los-angeles-bus-sparking-police-chase" rel="noopener" target="_blank">the hijacker</a> as Akinyela Taylor and said he was a U.S. military veteran, a report by The Associated Press said. U.S. officials could not confirm the Belize police commissioner’s statement that Taylor was a military veteran.</p><p>The air flight Cessna Caravan V3HIG from Corozal to San Pedro had 14 passengers and 2 crew members onboard, the statement from P.G.I.A. said.</p><p>A full emergency was declared immediately after the incident started and the aircraft circled in random directions for approximately two hours until finally landing safely at the P.G.I.A., according to a statement by the Belize Airport Concession Company.</p><p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/atlanta-bus-hijacking-suspect-had-19-prior-arrests-mental-illnesses-family-says"><strong>ATLANTA BUS HIJACKING SUSPECT HAD 19 PRIOR ARRESTS, MENTAL ILLNESSES, FAMILY SAYS</strong></a></p><p>U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said at a news briefing in Washington that officials were still gathering information about what occurred.</p><p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/apps-products?pid=AppArticleLink" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong><u>CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP</u></strong></a></p><p>"Horrifying," she said. "We are grateful, I think all of us are, that it did not turn into a mass casualty event with, I believe, over a dozen people on the plane. Clearly we know a few details. We don’t know much more."</p><p>U.S. officials said they did not know the motive for Taylor’s hijacking but were working with Belizean authorities to determine what happened.</p><p><i>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</i></p>