At this point, who knows. We don't even know yet whether he was just boarding or whether he'd flown from Colombia.

The only thing I can think of that might have made a difference is if the purported wife had notified the plane officials that her husband was disturbed and unpredictable. At the very least they could have confiscated his bag. Realistically though, they would probably not have let them fly.

One thing for sure: I would not want to be in the shoes of those who are hired to "keep America safe". They couldn't pay me enough.