Waleed al-Shehri
Encyclopedia
Waleed Mohammed al-Shehri (December 20, 1978 – September 11, 2001) was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11
, which was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center
as part of the September 11 attacks.
Born in Saudi Arabia
, Shehri had been a student until he accompanied his mentally ill brother to Medina
. He later went to fight in Chechnya
along with his brother Wail
, but was redirected to Afghanistan
, where he was recruited for the attacks.
He arrived in the United States in April 2001 on a tourist visa. On September 11, 2001, Waleed along with his brother, Wail, boarded American Airlines Flight 11
and was one of five that helped hijack it, so that Mohamed Atta
could fly the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center
.
, Waleed al-Shehri was from 'Asir province
, a poor region in southwestern Saudi Arabia
that borders Yemen
. Since Shehri's family adhered to the Wahhabi school of Islam
, he grew up in a very conservative household. His family did not have satellite television or internet and he was forbidden to play music or have contact with girls until he was old enough for an arranged marriage.
Early media accounts said that Waleed had earned his pilot's certificate at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
in 1997. However, after a short investigation, Embry-Riddle was discovered to have not had any involvement in the flight training of the terrorists. A former student shared the same name as one of the hijackers, but the student, who is still alive, had no connections to al-Qaeda
.
after Wail complained of a mental symptom that had caused him grief, telling their father that he intended to seek aid from a religious healer
in Medina
.
The brothers arrived at the Al Farouq training camp
in Afghanistan
, where they met Ahmed al-Nami
and Saeed al-Ghamdi
. Before arriving at Al-Farouq, the four reportedly pledged themselves to jihad
in the spring 2000, in a ceremony presided over by Wail, who had dubbed himself Abu Mossaeb al-Janubi after one of Muhammad's
companions
.
Waleed later served in the security forces at Kandahar International Airport with Saeed al-Ghamdi
. After being selected for the operation, he trained with the other hijackers at al-Matar complex under Abu Turab al-Urduni
.
Waleed returned to Saudi Arabia with his brother in the fall of 2000 so they could obtain clean passports and U.S. visas, which they did on October 3 and October 24, 2000, respectively.
In mid-November, 2000, the 9/11 Commission believes that three of the future muscle hijackers, Wail al Shehri, Waleed al Shehri, and Ahmed al-Nami
, all of whom had obtained their U.S. visas in late October, traveled in a group from Saudi Arabia to Beirut
and then onward to Iran
where they could travel through to Afghanistan without getting their passports stamped. This probably followed their return to Saudi Arabia to get "clean" passports. An associate of a senior Hezbollah operative is thought to have been on the same flight, although this may have been a coincidence.
, Pakistan
before travelling to the United Arab Emirates
. From the UAE, the muscle hijackers came to the U.S. between April and June 2001. Waleed may have arrived April 23. Some sources report that Shehri "at times" stayed at lead hijacker Mohamed Atta
's apartment in Hamburg
, Germany
at some period 1998 and 2001. Others place him with Zacarias Moussaoui
in London
.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh says that bin Laden had given a message to Waleed al-Shehri for conveyance to Mohamed Atta
earlier that spring, indicating that bin Laden preferred to attack the White House
instead of the Capitol
.
On May 4, 2001, he applied for and received a Florida
driver's license
. The next day, he filled out a change-of-address form to receive a duplicate license. Five other suspected hijackers also received duplicate Florida licenses in 2001. Some have speculated that this was to allow multiple persons to use the same identity. On May 19, Shehri and Satam al-Suqami
flew from Fort Lauderdale
to Freeport, Bahamas
, where they had reservations at the Bahamas Princess Resort where Shehri and Suqami rented two cars, a black Buick Regal and a gray Ford Taurus. The two were turned away by Bahamian officials on arrival, however, because they lacked visas
; they returned to Florida that same day. The 9/11 Commission
felt that they likely took this trip to renew Suqami's immigration status, as Suqami's legal stay in the United States ended May 21.
He was one of nine hijackers to open a SunTrust
bank account with a cash deposit around June 2001. While living in Boynton, neighbours reported that he seemed to be an enthusiastic fan of the Florida Marlins
.
On July 16, both Wail and Waleed were staying at a hotel in Salou, Spain
where they were visited by Mohamed Atta
. On July 30, Shehri traveled alone from Fort Lauderdale to Boston. He flew to San Francisco
the next day, where he stayed one night before returning via Las Vegas
.
According to librarian Kathleen Hensmen, Wail and Waleed al-Shehri used the Internet access at Delray Beach Public Library in August 2001, where they may have been looking at information on crop dusting
; they reportedly left the library with a third Middle Eastern man thought to be Marwan al-Shehhi
, who Hensmen said asked her for the name of a local restaurant.
On September 5, Wail and Waleed al-Shehri traveled together on Delta Air Lines Flight 2462 from Fort Lauderdale to Boston
. Wail checked in together with Waleed at the Park Inn Hotel in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
on September 5, staying in room 432. Abdulaziz al-Omari
, may have also spent a night at the Park Inn before leaving with Mohamed Atta
for Portland, Maine
on September 10. When they checked out, the Shehri brothers may have left a discarded sheet of instructions on how to fly a transcontinental jetliner in their hotel room.
arrived together at Logan Airport at 06:45 on the morning of September 11, 2001, having left their Ford Focus rental car in the airport parking facility. Upon check-in, Wail al-Shehri was selected by the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System
(CAPPS), as was his brother Waleed, and Flight 11 hijacker Satam al-Suqami. Mohamed Atta
, the pilot hijacker on Flight 11 had also been selected in Portland. Being selected by CAPPS meant that their checked baggage were subject to extra screening. As the CAPPS was only for luggage, the three hijackers did not undergo any extra scrutiny at the passenger security checkpoint. One of the five Globe Aviation security-screeners on-duty later reported that either Wail or Waleed had been using a crutch
when they passed through security - and that the crutch had been X-rayed as per regulations.
By 07:40, all five hijackers were aboard the flight, which was scheduled to depart at 07:45. Wail and Waleed al-Shehri sat together in first class in seats 2A and 2B respectively. The aircraft taxied away from Gate 26 and departed Logan International Airport at 07:59 from runway 4R after a 14-minute delay. The hijacking of Flight 11 began at approximately 08:14, which is when the pilot stopped responding to air traffic control
. Once the hijacking
began, the brothers are suspected of having stabbed two flight attendants. At 08:46:40, Mohamed Atta deliberately crashed Flight 11 into the northern facade of the North Tower (Tower 1) of the World Trade Center
. The damage caused to the North Tower destroyed any means of escape from above the impact zone, trapping 1,344 people. The North Tower collapsed
at 10:28, after burning for 102 minutes.
reported that Waleed was "alive and well" in Casablanca, Morocco and was talking to multiple media organizations; however, due to confusion over the man's identity, and editorial concerns over conspiracy theories, BBC News later modified the September 23 report by inserting "A man called ... " BBC News considers the September 23 report superseded by an October 5, 2001 report that lists Waleed as one of the alleged hijackers believed by the FBI to be responsible for the September 11 attacks.
Waleed and Wail were both reported to have been initially found, in error, by a Saudi newspaper editor as the sons of Ahmed Alshehri, a senior Saudi diplomat stationed in Bombay, India
. On September 16, 2001, the diplomat Ahmed Alshehri denied that he was the father of the two hijackers. Wail claims he did attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
in Daytona Beach, Florida
— but was the victim of mistaken identity, since he used that training to secure his current position with a Moroccan
airline company. Saudi Arabia
has confirmed his story, and suggested he was the victim of identity theft
.
Muhammad Ali al-Shehri, the Shehri brothers' true father, was identified prior to September 17, 2001, and told Arab News that he had not heard from his sons in ten months prior to September 2001. An ABC News story in March 2002 repeated this, and during a report entitled "A Saudi Apology" for Dateline NBC
on Aug 25 2002, NBC reporter John Hockenberry
traveled to 'Asir, where he interviewed the third brother, Salah, who agreed that his two brothers were dead and claimed they had been "brainwashed".
Furthermore another article explains that the pilot who lives in Casablanca was named Walid al-Shri (not Waleed M. al-Shehri) and that much of the BBC information regarding "alive" hijackers was incorrect according to the same sources used by BBC. In September 2007, a video recording of his last testament
was released to mark the 6th anniversary of the attacks.
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight from Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California...
, which was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
as part of the September 11 attacks.
Born in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, Shehri had been a student until he accompanied his mentally ill brother to Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
. He later went to fight in Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
along with his brother Wail
Wail al-Shehri
Wail Mohammed al-Shehri was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked and flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....
, but was redirected to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, where he was recruited for the attacks.
He arrived in the United States in April 2001 on a tourist visa. On September 11, 2001, Waleed along with his brother, Wail, boarded American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight from Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California...
and was one of five that helped hijack it, so that Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
could fly the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
.
Early history
Studying to become a teacher like his brother, WailWail al-Shehri
Wail Mohammed al-Shehri was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked and flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....
, Waleed al-Shehri was from 'Asir province
Provinces of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is divided into 13 emirates . Each emirate is divided into governorates , 118 in total. This number contains the emirate capitals, which have a different status as municipalities headed by mayors...
, a poor region in southwestern Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
that borders Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
. Since Shehri's family adhered to the Wahhabi school of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, he grew up in a very conservative household. His family did not have satellite television or internet and he was forbidden to play music or have contact with girls until he was old enough for an arranged marriage.
Early media accounts said that Waleed had earned his pilot's certificate at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is a private university in the US specializing in aviation and aerospace engineering. It teaches the science, practice, and business of aviation and aerospace. Called "The Harvard of the Sky" by Time Magazine in 1979, Embry-Riddle has a history dating back to...
in 1997. However, after a short investigation, Embry-Riddle was discovered to have not had any involvement in the flight training of the terrorists. A former student shared the same name as one of the hijackers, but the student, who is still alive, had no connections to al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
.
2000
Waleed left his studies to accompany his brother's leave of absenceLeave of absence
Leave of absence is a term used to describe a period of time that one is to be away from his/her primary job, while maintaining the status of employee...
after Wail complained of a mental symptom that had caused him grief, telling their father that he intended to seek aid from a religious healer
Faith healing
Faith healing is healing through spiritual means. The healing of a person is brought about by religious faith through prayer and/or rituals that, according to adherents, stimulate a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or...
in Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
.
The brothers arrived at the Al Farouq training camp
Al Farouq training camp
The Al Farouq training camp, also known as "the airport camp", was an alleged Al-Qaeda training camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Camp attendees received small-arms training, map-reading, orientation, explosives training, and other training....
in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, where they met Ahmed al-Nami
Ahmed al-Nami
A former law student and muezzin, Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Nami was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.Born in Saudi Arabia, Nami had served as a muezzin and was a college student...
and Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed Abdallah Ali Sulayman al-Ghamdi was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks....
. Before arriving at Al-Farouq, the four reportedly pledged themselves to jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
in the spring 2000, in a ceremony presided over by Wail, who had dubbed himself Abu Mossaeb al-Janubi after one of Muhammad's
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
companions
Sahaba
In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
.
Waleed later served in the security forces at Kandahar International Airport with Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed Abdallah Ali Sulayman al-Ghamdi was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks....
. After being selected for the operation, he trained with the other hijackers at al-Matar complex under Abu Turab al-Urduni
Abu Turab Al-Urduni
The son-in-law of Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu Turab al-Urduni is a Jordanian who has been described by the United States government as one of five individuals who were aware of the operational details of the September 11th attacks. The other four being Osama bin Laden, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Ramzi bin...
.
Waleed returned to Saudi Arabia with his brother in the fall of 2000 so they could obtain clean passports and U.S. visas, which they did on October 3 and October 24, 2000, respectively.
In mid-November, 2000, the 9/11 Commission believes that three of the future muscle hijackers, Wail al Shehri, Waleed al Shehri, and Ahmed al-Nami
Ahmed al-Nami
A former law student and muezzin, Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Nami was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.Born in Saudi Arabia, Nami had served as a muezzin and was a college student...
, all of whom had obtained their U.S. visas in late October, traveled in a group from Saudi Arabia to Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
and then onward to Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
where they could travel through to Afghanistan without getting their passports stamped. This probably followed their return to Saudi Arabia to get "clean" passports. An associate of a senior Hezbollah operative is thought to have been on the same flight, although this may have been a coincidence.
2001
After training, he would have moved to a safehouse in KarachiKarachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
before travelling to the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
. From the UAE, the muscle hijackers came to the U.S. between April and June 2001. Waleed may have arrived April 23. Some sources report that Shehri "at times" stayed at lead hijacker Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
's apartment in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
at some period 1998 and 2001. Others place him with Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui
Zacarias Moussaoui is a French citizen who was convicted of conspiring to kill citizens of the US as part of the September 11 attacks...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh says that bin Laden had given a message to Waleed al-Shehri for conveyance to Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
earlier that spring, indicating that bin Laden preferred to attack the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
instead of the Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
.
On May 4, 2001, he applied for and received a Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
driver's license
Driver's license
A driver's license/licence , or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus, on a public roadway. Most U.S...
. The next day, he filled out a change-of-address form to receive a duplicate license. Five other suspected hijackers also received duplicate Florida licenses in 2001. Some have speculated that this was to allow multiple persons to use the same identity. On May 19, Shehri and Satam al-Suqami
Satam al-Suqami
A law student, Satam Muhammed Abdel Rahman al-Suqami was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 as part of the September 11 attacks....
flew from Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
to Freeport, Bahamas
Freeport, Bahamas
Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone located on the island of Grand Bahama of the North-west Bahamas. In 1955, Wallace Groves, a Virginian financier with lumber interests in Grand Bahama, was granted 50,000 acres Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone located on the island of...
, where they had reservations at the Bahamas Princess Resort where Shehri and Suqami rented two cars, a black Buick Regal and a gray Ford Taurus. The two were turned away by Bahamian officials on arrival, however, because they lacked visas
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
; they returned to Florida that same day. The 9/11 Commission
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
felt that they likely took this trip to renew Suqami's immigration status, as Suqami's legal stay in the United States ended May 21.
He was one of nine hijackers to open a SunTrust
SunTrust Banks
SunTrust Banks, Inc., is an American bank holding company. The largest subsidiary is SunTrust Bank. It had US$172.7 billion in assets as of September 30, 2009...
bank account with a cash deposit around June 2001. While living in Boynton, neighbours reported that he seemed to be an enthusiastic fan of the Florida Marlins
Florida Marlins
The Miami Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1993 as an expansion franchise called the Florida Marlins, the Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Marlins played their home games at...
.
On July 16, both Wail and Waleed were staying at a hotel in Salou, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
where they were visited by Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
. On July 30, Shehri traveled alone from Fort Lauderdale to Boston. He flew to San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
the next day, where he stayed one night before returning via Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
.
According to librarian Kathleen Hensmen, Wail and Waleed al-Shehri used the Internet access at Delray Beach Public Library in August 2001, where they may have been looking at information on crop dusting
Aerial application
Aerial application, commonly called crop dusting, involves spraying crops with fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides from an agricultural aircraft. The specific spreading of fertilizer is also known as aerial topdressing....
; they reportedly left the library with a third Middle Eastern man thought to be Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, crashing the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....
, who Hensmen said asked her for the name of a local restaurant.
On September 5, Wail and Waleed al-Shehri traveled together on Delta Air Lines Flight 2462 from Fort Lauderdale to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Wail checked in together with Waleed at the Park Inn Hotel in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Chestnut Hill is a wealthy New England village located six miles west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is not an incorporated municipal entity, but unlike most of them, it encompasses parts of three separate municipalities, each of...
on September 5, staying in room 432. Abdulaziz al-Omari
Abdulaziz al-Omari
An airport security guard and Imam, Abdulaziz al-Omari was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 as part of the September 11 attacks....
, may have also spent a night at the Park Inn before leaving with Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
for Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
on September 10. When they checked out, the Shehri brothers may have left a discarded sheet of instructions on how to fly a transcontinental jetliner in their hotel room.
Attacks
Waleed al-Shehri, his brother Wail, and Satam al-SuqamiSatam al-Suqami
A law student, Satam Muhammed Abdel Rahman al-Suqami was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 as part of the September 11 attacks....
arrived together at Logan Airport at 06:45 on the morning of September 11, 2001, having left their Ford Focus rental car in the airport parking facility. Upon check-in, Wail al-Shehri was selected by the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System
Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System
The Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System is a counter-terrorism system in place in the United States air travel industry...
(CAPPS), as was his brother Waleed, and Flight 11 hijacker Satam al-Suqami. Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
, the pilot hijacker on Flight 11 had also been selected in Portland. Being selected by CAPPS meant that their checked baggage were subject to extra screening. As the CAPPS was only for luggage, the three hijackers did not undergo any extra scrutiny at the passenger security checkpoint. One of the five Globe Aviation security-screeners on-duty later reported that either Wail or Waleed had been using a crutch
Crutch
Crutches are mobility aids used to counter a mobility impairment or an injury that limits walking ability.- Types :There are several different types of crutches:...
when they passed through security - and that the crutch had been X-rayed as per regulations.
By 07:40, all five hijackers were aboard the flight, which was scheduled to depart at 07:45. Wail and Waleed al-Shehri sat together in first class in seats 2A and 2B respectively. The aircraft taxied away from Gate 26 and departed Logan International Airport at 07:59 from runway 4R after a 14-minute delay. The hijacking of Flight 11 began at approximately 08:14, which is when the pilot stopped responding to air traffic control
Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
. Once the hijacking
Aircraft hijacking
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
began, the brothers are suspected of having stabbed two flight attendants. At 08:46:40, Mohamed Atta deliberately crashed Flight 11 into the northern facade of the North Tower (Tower 1) of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
. The damage caused to the North Tower destroyed any means of escape from above the impact zone, trapping 1,344 people. The North Tower collapsed
Collapse of the World Trade Center
The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, as a result of al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks, in which terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners, flying one into the North Tower and another into the South Tower...
at 10:28, after burning for 102 minutes.
Reports after September 11 attacks
On September 23, 2001 BBC NewsBBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
reported that Waleed was "alive and well" in Casablanca, Morocco and was talking to multiple media organizations; however, due to confusion over the man's identity, and editorial concerns over conspiracy theories, BBC News later modified the September 23 report by inserting "A man called ... " BBC News considers the September 23 report superseded by an October 5, 2001 report that lists Waleed as one of the alleged hijackers believed by the FBI to be responsible for the September 11 attacks.
Waleed and Wail were both reported to have been initially found, in error, by a Saudi newspaper editor as the sons of Ahmed Alshehri, a senior Saudi diplomat stationed in Bombay, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. On September 16, 2001, the diplomat Ahmed Alshehri denied that he was the father of the two hijackers. Wail claims he did attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is a private university in the US specializing in aviation and aerospace engineering. It teaches the science, practice, and business of aviation and aerospace. Called "The Harvard of the Sky" by Time Magazine in 1979, Embry-Riddle has a history dating back to...
in Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, USA. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city has a population of 64,211. Daytona Beach is a principal city of the Deltona – Daytona Beach – Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which the census bureau estimated had...
— but was the victim of mistaken identity, since he used that training to secure his current position with a Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
airline company. Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
has confirmed his story, and suggested he was the victim of identity theft
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
.
Muhammad Ali al-Shehri, the Shehri brothers' true father, was identified prior to September 17, 2001, and told Arab News that he had not heard from his sons in ten months prior to September 2001. An ABC News story in March 2002 repeated this, and during a report entitled "A Saudi Apology" for Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
on Aug 25 2002, NBC reporter John Hockenberry
John Hockenberry
John Charles Hockenberry is an American journalist and author. A four-time Emmy Award winner and three-time Peabody Award winner, Hockenberry has worked in media since 1980....
traveled to 'Asir, where he interviewed the third brother, Salah, who agreed that his two brothers were dead and claimed they had been "brainwashed".
Furthermore another article explains that the pilot who lives in Casablanca was named Walid al-Shri (not Waleed M. al-Shehri) and that much of the BBC information regarding "alive" hijackers was incorrect according to the same sources used by BBC. In September 2007, a video recording of his last testament
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
was released to mark the 6th anniversary of the attacks.
External links
- The Final 9/11 Commission Report
- "The Will of the Martyr (as we see him) Abu Mus'ab al Shehri With a forward by Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may Allah protect him"; this video is about 15 minutes; it requires a Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...