Posted on 03/02/2011 10:46:13 AM PST by wonders
Two US airmen have been shot dead and two wounded at Frankfurt airport.
The gunman, believed to be from Kosovo, opened fire on a bus containing US airmen in front of Terminal 2. The bus driver and a passenger were killed and two others were seriously injured.
Police said it appeared an argument had broken out on board the bus before the suspect opened fire. The dead soldier was found outside the bus, which had a US government licence plate marked "AF", for air force.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Victims were airmen headed to Ramstein.
More: "A spokesman for the Air Force at Lakenheath airfield confirms all four were from a military base in eastern England. Lakenheath is home to the 48th Fighter Wing, the United States' only F-15 fighter wing. Its website says the base employs about 4,500 active-duty military members, as well as 2,000 British and U.S. civilians."
Link: USA Today
To the Balkans Gang: The same article reports the guy who did this is from Mitrovica.
From the NYT: "A man whose office is near the site of the shooting said it was an area where buses load arriving passengers. Speaking on condition of anonymity to protect his business, he said witnesses told him that the gunman first talked to the military personnel to find out who they were and then opened fire, shouting “God is great” in Arabic."
I knew it couldn’t be a service member because they’re not allowed to carry their weapons on base. Thus it had to be somebody from outside. So I guess the “argument” was him screaming that hideous Islamic cry while trying to get on the bus.
I read that one of the people killed was shot outside the bus, so I guess once he knew they were military he just killed whoever he could get in his sights.
An argument? Maybe after the attacker screamed “allaouachkbar” Winning The Future?
According to the NYT piece I linked to above: "The suspect argued with some of the airmen before shooting one who was standing in the open door as well as the driver, Mr. Füllhardt said. The suspect was captured by a Hesse state police officer who was at the airport, which typically has heavy security especially following warnings in recent months that Germany would be a terror target."
and
"Mr. Füllhardt said that the dark blue-gray bus had regular German license plates, in line with American military policy to make vehicles less conspicuous, but that it still probably stood out from German vehicles. The busload of airmen had just arrived from England, he said, and had boarded the bus to go to the American military base at Ramstein, which lies few dozen miles to the southwest of the Frankfurt Airport."
According to longjack's article from Der Spiegel, the reports of an "argument" have "not been confirmed." So, piecing it all together, it looks like the shooter planned this (lots of extra ammo and told police he "pulled the trigger many times") and wanted to make sure the passengers on the bus were US military, then shot and killed the two easiest targets (the driver and the guy standing in the open doorway), wounded two more and ran into the terminal where he tried to mingle with other passengers but was caught by German security agents.
This is obviously Milosevic’s fault.
Great to “see” you again!
That sounds very likely. He was probably trying to make sure they were US military.
I wish the police or somebody had killed him rather than just catching him, though.
So when do the sanctions start?
Now we just need some closet jihadist to pop in and tell us this was the fault of the Serbs!
Not just sanctions. Kosovo is still technically part of Serbia, so this guy is a Serbian citizen. Bombs away!!
Same here! Hope all is well with you and your family. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.