Teen plotted fair, bar attacks before İzmir police station shooting, media says
IZMIR
A fairground and a pub were the initial targets of the assailant who carried out last week’s deadly attack on a police station in the western province of İzmir, but he later abandoned those plans, according to local media.
The 16-year-old high-school student fatally shot two police officers on Sept. 8 with his father’s shotgun. The family and the teen’s social-media accounts indicated he had expressed sympathy for extremist religious groups and became radicalized.
Investigators continue to probe whether the attacker had any organizational ties to ISIL or any other group. His phone contained an ISIL logo and his social accounts included posts that appeared to praise the group.
On Sept. 16, local outlets published the statement the suspect, identified as E.B., gave to the authorities after his capture.
The attacker said that he initially planned to attack the İzmir Fair but later abandoned that idea, The İzmir Fair is one of Türkiye’s oldest, most prominent and most comprehensive trade fairs, held annually during August and September.
After deciding not to target the fair, E.B. told authorities he turned his attention to a bar.
“I wanted to attack the bar because alcohol is consumed there. Later I decided that attack would not happen,” he said, according to local reports.
“I began to think about attacking the police station near our home. I slept at night, but the thought stayed with me,” he added.
The attacker recounted that on the morning of the attack he began preparations at 6 a.m., but he had placed the gun and ammunition in his bag in August.
“I put the improvised explosives I used in the attack into my bag. After assembling the charges, I added steel ball bearings to the outside. I had prepared two improvised explosive devices in this way,” he said.
He also said he put a folding knife in his bag “to remove a bullet if I was wounded,” and that he packed tissues, cologne to pour over wounds and scissors to cut fabric for bandaging.
E.B. said his mother left for work the morning of the attack and his father was asleep. “I was still unsure whether I would carry out an attack. When I noticed my father waking up, I left the house because I did not want him to see me like that. “
“After waiting two or three minutes in front of the building I realized I would not return and ran — the nearest police station was where I headed,” he told investigators.
As part of the investigation, five people were arrested in connection with the case — E.B. and his father, plus three Syrians and one Iranian national. The suspect’s mother and three other individuals were released under judicial control.
