2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting
2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting | |
---|---|
Part of 9mm ) | |
Deaths | 2 |
Injured | 2 |
Perpetrator | Arid Uka |
Motive | Revenge for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan |
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 Airmen and seriously wounding two others. He was convicted of murder and attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison on 10 February 2012.[1]
According to the court judge at Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt, this was the first terrorist attack in Germany in which the perpetrator had an Islamist motive.[2]
Shooting
According to the German investigators, Uka targeted a
The two victims killed in the shooting were
Conner and Brewer later received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in a ceremony on 16 January 2012. Federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich presented the decoration, citing their "exemplary courage and action which helped the Federal Police arrest the suspect".[7]
Perpetrator
Arid Uka, the 21-year-old perpetrator, was a
In the months before the attack, Uka underwent a late-adolescent crisis.[12] Uka left school before his university-entrance diploma, but didn't tell his family. Instead, he told them that he had finished the diploma successfully. His family members, former friends, and one of his employers described him as introverted, polite, and not aggressive. Months before the shooting, Uka broke ties to all his friends and retreated. During this time, he was extensively surfing the web visiting websites with Salafi jihadist content.[13] He started dressing in Salafist dress, and began to study Arabic.[12]
Uka decided to join the fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, but failed to do so since he failed to establish the right contacts.
According to German authorities, Uka confessed to the killings when interrogated after the shooting.
Trial and sentence
During Uka's trial, his defence lawyer described him as a non-typical violent criminal who is neither religiously motivated nor an Islamist terrorist, while the
On 10 February 2012, the Hessian State Superior Court (Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main) sentenced Uka to life imprisonment for two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder with the determination of an "exceptional gravity of guilt", which means that he will not be eligible for parole after having served fifteen years.[1] Because he was sentenced to more than three years imprisonment, he will be deported to Kosovo after having served his sentence as he does not hold German citizenship.[22]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Frankfurt airport gunman jailed for life". BBC News. 10 February 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- ^ "Terrorprozess: Lebenslang für Arid Uka". rtl.de (in German). Archived from the original on 19 December 2018.
"Wir haben es hier tatsächlich mit dem ersten islamistisch motivierten Terroranschlag auf deutschem Boden zu tun", sagte der Vorsitzende Richter Thomas Sagebiel in seiner Urteilsbegründung. ["We are actually dealing here with the first Islamist-motivated terrorist attack on German soil," said Judge Thomas Sagebiel in his verdict.]
- ^ a b c d Pidd, Helen (3 March 2011). "Frankfurt airport shooting may have Islamist link, say police". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ a b c d "Frankfurt airport shooting: Jammed gun 'saved lives'". BBC News. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ Sundby, Alex (3 March 2011). "Source: Air Force shooter shouted "Allahu akbar"". CBS News.
- ^ Orr, Bob (3 March 2011). "Killer of U.S. airmen is radical Muslim, German official says". KRTV-TV. CBS News. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
- ^ a b "Federal Minister Friedrich presents two Americans with Cross of the Order of Merit". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
- ^ "From tragedy comes triumph: Wounded warrior shares his story". United States Air Forces. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
The couple and their children decided to make Grand Forks, N.D., their home after Schneider medically retired from the Air Force late last year.
- ^ Gordts, Eline (10 February 2012). "Arid Uka, Frankfurt Airport Shooter, Sentenced To Life". Huffington Post.
- ^ BKA: Keine radikale Familie um Flughafen-Täter. In: Focus, 14. November 2011 focus.de (in German)
- ^ Flughafen-Attentäter verurteilt: Lebenslänglich für Arid Uka Archived 11 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine. In: Berliner Zeitung, 10 February 2012 berliner-zeitung.de (in German)
- ^ a b c "Bohleber, Werner, and Marianne LeuzingerBohleber. "Processes of Political and Terrorist Radicalization in Late Adolescence–Some Case Examples."" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Höchststrafe für US-Soldaten-Mord. In: Die Tageszeitung, 10 February 2012 die Tageszeitung (in German)
- ^ Der Frankfurter Pistolenschütze und seine Kontakte‘‘. In: heise online, 3. März 2011 heise.de (in German)
- ISBN 978-3-95489-338-6.
- ISBN 978-1-317-90803-6.
- JSTOR 43773679
- ISBN 978-1-107-01795-5.
- ^ "Jihadist songs loved by US airmen's killer banned". The Local Germany. 16 March 2012.
- ^ Weinthal, Benjamin (11 February 2015). "The rapping butcher of ISIS: German jihadist becomes terrorists' poster boy". New York Post.
- ^ Pressemitteilung des Generalbundesanwalts vom 7. Juli 2011 Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine generalbundesanwalt.de (in German)
- ^ Crolly, Hannelore (10 February 2012). "Flughafenattentäter: Arid Uka droht nach der Haft Abschiebung ins Kosovo". DIE WELT.