2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting
Encyclopedia
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, which would make it the first deadly act of this kind in Germany.
. He reportedly walked up to a waiting airman, asked him for a cigarette, and wanted to know whether the airmen were bound for Afghanistan.
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!" The attacker then entered the bus, shooting and killing the driver, and continued to fire three shots at two other airmen, wounding them.
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.
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.
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, but his Facebook page was reported to indicate contacts to Islamists from the Salafist movement, including Sheikh Abdellatif, a noted Moroccan Islamist preacher living in Germany. Der Spiegel
reported that evidence held by German and United States authorities was claimed to link Uka to Islamist groups in Germany.
Uka told investigators that a YouTube
video showing American soldiers raping Muslim women motivated him to commit the shooting. 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. The interior minister of the federal state
of Hesse
said that Uka had apparently been radicalised over the past few weeks.
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.
Nicholas Alden of South Carolina
; and Airman First Class
Zachary Cuddeback of Virginia
. The two wounded airmen were transported to a local hospital.
Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport may refer to:Airports of Frankfurt, Germany:*Frankfurt Airport , the largest airport in Germany*Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport, a general aviation airport*Frankfurt-Hahn Airport , a converted U.S...
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, which would make it the first deadly act of this kind in Germany.
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 BaseRamstein Air Base
Ramstein Air Base is a United States Air Force base in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz. It serves as headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe and is also a North Atlantic Treaty Organization installation...
. He reportedly walked up to a waiting airman, asked him for a cigarette, and wanted to know whether the airmen were bound for Afghanistan.
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!" The attacker then entered the bus, shooting and killing the driver, and continued to fire three shots at two other airmen, wounding them.
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.
Perpetrator
Arid Uka, the 21-year-old perpetrator, had not been previously known to German authorities. He was described in media reports as an ethnic AlbanianAlbanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
from Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
and a devout Muslim, whose family had been living in Germany for 40 years. He had been working at the airport post office.
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, but his Facebook page was reported to indicate contacts to Islamists from the Salafist movement, including Sheikh Abdellatif, a noted Moroccan Islamist preacher living in Germany. Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
reported that evidence held by German and United States authorities was claimed to link Uka to Islamist groups in Germany.
Uka told investigators that a YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video showing American soldiers raping Muslim women motivated him to commit the shooting. The 6 March, 2011 edition of the German television show Spiegel TV Magazin
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
identified the video in question as a clip from Redacted
Redacted (film)
Redacted is a 2007 American war film written and directed by Brian De Palma. It is a fictional dramatization, loosely based on the 2006 Mahmudiyah killings in Mahmoudiyah, Iraq...
, an American anti-war film. The interior minister of the federal state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
said that Uka had apparently been radicalised over the past few weeks.
Trial
German prosecutors charged Arid Uka with two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. On trial before the OberlandesgerichtOberlandesgericht
The Oberlandesgericht is one of the 'ordinary courts' in Germany...
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.
Casualties
Of the four airmen shot, two were killed at the location of the shooting: Senior AirmanSenior Airman
Senior airman is the fourth enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman first class and below staff sergeant. It has a pay grade of E-4...
Nicholas Alden of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
; and Airman First Class
Airman First Class
Airman first class is the third enlisted rank in the United States Air Force, just above airman and below senior airman. The rank of airman first class is considered a junior enlisted rank, with the non-commissioned officers and senior non-commissioned officers above it.Airman first class is a...
Zachary Cuddeback of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. The two wounded airmen were transported to a local hospital.