Man held in Germany shooting 'acted alone'

FRANKFURT, Germany - Arid Uka grew up in a well-kept immigrant neighborhood as the son of a relatively prosperous, not-all-that religious family of Albanians from Kosovo - a group notable more for their pro-American outlook than for mosque attendance.

But somewhere along the way, Uka, 21, turned drastically from his upbringing.

German officials said yesterday the temporary letter sorter with the postal service has admitted targeting Americans when he opened fire with a handgun on a busload of 15 U.S. airmen at Frankfurt's airport on their way to deployment in Afghanistan, killing two and wounding two more.

A federal judge in Karlsruhe ordered the suspect held on two counts of murder and three of attempted murder pending further investigation.

German investigators said indications are that Uka turned only recently to extremism - a member of the generation with immigrant background but raised in Europe, who become radicalized to the shock and dismay of their elders.

German officials said he had contact with other radicals through social networking sites and elsewhere, but it appears he was not part of a terrorist organization.

"From our investigation so far we conclude that he acted alone," Hesse's top security official, interior minister Boris Rhein, told reporters.

Uka's Facebook page - with "There is no God but God and Mohammad is his prophet" in Arabic over a map of Kosovo as his profile picture - was in stark contrast to the unassuming, somewhat standoffish young man neighbors had met.

"He was nice and very quiet - I would say shy," said Jessica Friedrich, who went to the nearby elementary school with him and recognized the scowling, eyes-downcast photo of "Abu Reyyan" - a recently acquired nom de guerre according to Rhein - as him.

"He was a completely normal guy," said Katharina Freier, who lives across the apartment hallway from the Ukas.

Uka's father, Murat, told Kosovo's daily Gazeta Express that family members are shocked.