John and Alice Schuringa are both from Holland but have lived in Visalia for the past 30 years. Like other people across the country, John Schuringa is also calling his nephew, Jasper, a hero.
John Schuringa said, "In my eyes yes he is a hero, in my eyes, because what he did not many people would do because he risked his life you know."
John Schuringa heard about what happened from his brother, Jasper's father. His nephew, a documentary film maker, was traveling from Amsterdam to Miami -- with a stop in Detroit to visit his girlfriend on Christmas.
Schuringa said his nephew, was sitting on the right side of the plane, while the alleged Nigerian bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was sitting on the left side. Right away, he said he noticed Abdulmutallab acting suspicious, pulling a blanket over his lap. Soon, he heard a loud popping noise, and then saw smoke and flames.
"So he jumped over all the people of course the plane they have three seats and then 4 seats in the middle so he jumped all over those 4 people and he got the guy in a head lock," said Schuringa.
John Schuringa said his nephew then noticed the suspect still had a possible explosive device in his hands. Jasper Schuringa described the incident Monday morning on ABC30 in an interview on Good Morning America.
Jasper said, "I really had to pull it out of his hands because he kind of resisted. And it was also kind of stuck in his underwear so I really had to rip the whole object out of his pants."
Both John Schuringa and his wife were not surprised their nephew tried to take down the suspected bomber.
Schuringa said, "I know my brother too I think if it was my brother he would do the same thing too and I know his son would do the same thing too."
Jasper Schuringa's Aunt Alice said, "If there's something going wrong they would jump right in and help. And that's what I could see him doing right away Jasper. Everybody else just stands there and kind of waits you know but he would go right in there."
John and Alice Schuringa said their nephew suffered burns to his hands but is doing okay now. He's just really tired from all the interviews not only with investigators but with news agencies, as well.
