Assassination attempt at Frankfurt Airport on March 2, 2011

Improvised memorial to the attack set up at Terminal 2 (March 6, 2011)

The murder attack at Frankfurt Airport on March 2, 2011 was the first attack in Germany with fatalities from an Islamist background . Two American soldiers were murdered and two others were seriously injured.

On February 10, 2012, the perpetrator, Arid Uka , was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court.

Course of action

The scene of the crime was a bus stopping zone in the public area of Terminal 2 of Frankfurt Airport . Target of the attack was a group of 15 members of the US Air Force (Air Force), stretching from the British military airbase RAF Lakenheath , take the trip to the deployment to Afghanistan were and were picked up by a stationed in Germany US soldiers at the airport with a Bus to be taken to Ramstein Air Force Base .

First, Arid Uka spoke to Airman First Class Brandon Kilgore (22) in front of the bus and asked him for a cigarette. In the course of a short conversation, he confirmed that the bus passengers were members of the US Air Force. When the military got on the bus, Uka shot the senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden (25) , who was just getting on, from behind, and then the bus driver, Airman First Class Zachary Cuddeback (21).

After Uka had boarded the bus with the repeated exclamation of Allahu akbar (“God is greatest”), he targeted the unarmed US soldiers sitting there: First he went to Senior Airman Edgar Miguel, who turned 22 that day Veguilla and immediately shot him in the targeted head, causing the latter to suffer a penetration through the lower jaw. With a second shot he inflicted the most serious injuries to the victim, who was looking for cover, and which he only survived due to an emergency operation at the Frankfurt University Hospital . Now Arid Uka shot 25-year-old Sgt. Kristoffer Paul Schneider in the head and then in the right hip, causing him to suffer a lifelong handicap due to severe brain and bone injuries and lose an eye. Finally, Arid Uka turned to the 22-year-old Staff Sgt. Trevor Donald Brewer , holding the pistol right in front of his face. Despite the two attempted shots, the targeted victim remained uninjured due to a jam.

Uka got off the bus and tried to disappear into the crowd inside Airport Terminal 2. After a persecution by the two Americans Trevor Brewer and Lamar Joseph Conner , however, he was identified, pursued and overwhelmed by federal police officers.

Perpetrator

The perpetrator is Arid Uka, a Kosovar Albanian who has been living in Frankfurt with his family since 1991 and was 21 at the time of the crime . On February 10, 2012, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court for double murder and triple attempted murder . The court regarded him as a lone perpetrator and determined the particular severity of the guilt , which rules out his release after 15 years.