Shame the chap died, nobody deserves that.
However is it any surprise now that passengers will intervene if they suspect a nutter is trying to get into the cockpit? Had I been a passenger on that flight then I too would have been scared, perhaps not before 9/11 but now I sure would be.
As a Pilot I now feel much more secure in the knowledge that the folks down the back will not sit back and wonder what to do when they see a lunatic (drunk or otherwise) attempt to break into the cockpit. What were they to think, oh perhaps the chap was just being friendly and wanted to give the skipper a big kiss?
The result was tragic no argument, but better that than the plane going in like a tent peg.