- 2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting
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2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting Location Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Date 2 March 2011 Attack type Spree shooting Weapon(s) Firearm Death(s) 2 Injured 2 Suspected perpetrator Arid Uka The 2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting occurred on 2 March, 2011 at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. The shooter, Arid Uka, was arrested and charged with killing two United States soldiers and seriously wounding two others. German authorities suspect that this was Islamists attack,[1] which would make it the first deadly act of this kind in Germany.[2]
Contents
Shooting
According to the German investigators, Uka targeted a United States Air Force bus parked outside the terminal building that was supposed to transport 15 U.S. airmen to Ramstein Air Base.[1] He reportedly walked up to a waiting airman, asked him for a cigarette, and wanted to know whether the airmen were bound for Afghanistan.[3]
When the airman said yes, according to German prosecutor Rainer Griesbaum, Uka waited for the airman to turn away and then shot him in the back of the head, killing him. Allegedly shouting "Allahu Akbar!"[4][5] The attacker then entered the bus, shooting and killing the driver, and continued to fire three shots at two other airmen, wounding them.[3]
When he pointed his pistol at the head of another airman and pulled the trigger, the weapon jammed. Uka fled the bus, but was pursued and overpowered by his intended victim and two German police officers. Uka was subsequently arrested.[3]
Perpetrator
Arid Uka, the 21-year-old perpetrator, had not been previously known to German authorities.[2] He was described in media reports as an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo and a devout Muslim, whose family had been living in Germany for 40 years. He had been working at the airport post office.[1]
According to German authorities, Uka confessed to the killings when interrogated after the shooting. He reportedly insisted that he had acted alone and was not a member of a terrorist group,[1] but his Facebook page was reported to indicate contacts to Islamists from the Salafist movement,[2] including Sheikh Abdellatif, a noted Moroccan Islamist preacher living in Germany.[6] Der Spiegel reported that evidence held by German and United States authorities was claimed to link Uka to Islamist groups in Germany.[7]
Uka told investigators that a YouTube video showing American soldiers raping Muslim women motivated him to commit the shooting.[6] The 6 March, 2011 edition of the German television show Spiegel TV Magazin identified the video in question as a clip from Redacted, an American anti-war film.[8] The interior minister of the federal state of Hesse said that Uka had apparently been radicalised over the past few weeks.[1]
Trial
German prosecutors charged Arid Uka with two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.[2] On trial before the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main in August 2011, Uka confessed to committing the shooting. He said that he was radicalized by jihadist propaganda videos, but apologized for what he did, adding that today he could not understand how he could have acted this way.[9][10]
Casualties
Of the four airmen shot, two were killed at the location of the shooting: Senior Airman Nicholas Alden of South Carolina; and Airman First Class Zachary Cuddeback of Virginia. The two wounded airmen were transported to a local hospital.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e Pidd, Helen (3 March 2011). "Frankfurt airport shooting may have Islamist link, say police". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/03/frankfurt-airport-shooting-islamist-link?. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ a b c d "The World from Berlin: 'Germans Have to Distinguish between Muslims and Murderers'". Der Spiegel. 3 March 2011. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,749173,00.html. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ a b c d "Frankfurt airport shooting: Jammed gun 'saved lives'". BBC News. 4 March 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12647093. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ Sundby, Alex (March 3, 2011). "Source: Air Force shooter shouted "Allahu akbar"". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20038865-503543.html.
- ^ Orr, Bob (March 3, 2011). "Killer of U.S. airmen is radical Muslim, German official says". CBS News. KRTV-TV. http://www.krtv.com/news/killer-of-u-s-airmen-is-radical-muslim-german-official-says/.
- ^ a b Bartsch, Matthias (3 March 2011). "Facebook Jihad: The Radical Islamist Roots of the Frankfurt Attack". Der Spiegel. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,748910,00.html. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ Gebauer, Matthias (3 March 2011). "Fatal Shooting at Frankfurt Airport: German Investigators Suspect Islamist Motives behind Attack". Der Spiegel. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,748769,00.html. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ "Attentat: Vergewaltigungsvideo Auslöser?". Bild. 2011-03-09. http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/telegramm/news-ticker,rendertext=16689496.html. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
- ^ "Accused Frankfurt Airport gunman goes on trial". Deutsche Welle. 31 August 2011. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15353907,00.html. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ^ "Kosovo man admits Frankfurt airport Islamist attack". BBC News. 31 August 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14727975. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
Alleged militants in the War on Terror who have lived in GermanyAlleged members of al-Qaeda and al-Jihad Hamburg Cell · September 11 attacks Mohamed Atta · Marwan al-Shehhi · Ziad Jarrah · Ramzi bin al-Shibh · Said Bahaji · Zakariya Essabar · Mounir el-MotassadeqHeld in Guantanamo Bay Murat Kurnaz · Ramzi bin al-ShibhWrongly accused 2006 German train bombing plot 2007 bomb plot in Germany 2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting Arid UkaCategories:- Deaths by firearm in Germany
- Murder in 2011
- 2011 in Germany
- Islamist terrorism in Germany
- History of the United States Air Force
- Terrorist incidents in 2011
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