Local Airman Injured In Frankfurt Attack
IRWIN (KDKA/AP) -- One of the airmen seriously injured in yesterday's attack on U.S. forces outside an airport in Frankfurt, Germany is from Westmoreland County.
Kristoffer Schneider, 25, is in critical but stable condition following the shooting.
Schneider, who is a 2003 graduate of Norwin High School, suffered gunshot wounds to his head and back.
His mother, Paula Schneider, says that while the news is devastating, it has been getting better.
"The respirator was showing that he wanted to breathe on his own; so once he was out of surgery, I don't think they were going to put the respirator back on him - that he was able to breathe on his own," said Paula.
The Schneider family says they are thankful that medical personnel are focused on Kris.
"The medical care over there is fantastic. That's a plus," said Kenneth Schneider, Kris' father. "I'm very thankful for that."
Two other airmen were killed in what prosecutors are investigating as an act of Islamic terror.
A German security official says the suspect in the killing of two U.S. airmen has confessed to targeting American military members.
The official told reporters in Wiesbaden that the suspect is a 21-year-old ethnic Albanian from Kosovo. Relatives in Kosovo identified him as Arid Uka.
German officials say the suspect appears to have acted alone, but the Pentagon isn't ruling out the possibility he had help.
The Air Force says the gunman opened fire on a bus carrying 15 airmen to Ramstein Air Base, from where they were to head to Afghanistan.
