Woman Smokes Cigarette on Plane, Threatens to Kill Everyone

24-year-old Valerie Curbello tried to smoke a cigarette in one of the bathrooms on a 90-minute flight from Portland to Sacramento on Saturday. After she got caught, she threatened to "kill everyone" on the plane.

Curbello had to be restrained by passengers and flight crew all while she yelled about killing everyone on the plane. “It was not me, it was not me,” she told a reporter while sitting in jail.

Southwest Airlines provided a statement on the incident:

Our Crew in command of Flight 2943 traveling from Portland on Saturday afternoon safely landed on-time in Sacramento following an inflight disturbance. Our reports from Flight Attendants indicate a Customer violated federal laws by both smoking onboard an aircraft and by tampering with a smoke detector in an aircraft restroom. Our Crew enforced the regulation and that was followed by the passenger outburst. The safety of our Crew and Passengers is our top priority and we take all threats seriously. The Pilots declared an emergency to receive priority handling from air traffic controllers, and our Crew handled the situation onboard until the plane landed and local authorities stepped in. The flight carried 136 Customers and a Crew of five.