CCTV footage shows Istanbul attacker entering nightclub

Record ID: 162998

  • Title: CCTV footage shows Istanbul attacker entering nightclub
  • Date: 3rd January 2017
  • Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (JANUARY 3, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC DRIVING PAST REINA NIGHTCLUB PEOPLE GATHERING NEAR MAKESHIFT MEMORIAL PHOTOS OF VICTIMS AT MAKESHIFT MEMORIAL (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) BUSINESS PARTNER OF REINA NIGHTCLUB'S OWNER, ALI UNAL, SAYING: "There was a heater next to me, several bullets hit its tube and then I felt somebody was shooting from across so I threw myself over the fence at the back - it is in the surveillance camera footage, I am the one who is throwing himself on the ground. We had a broken ramp there; I slipped and fell on the ground, he was shooting as I fell and the iron fence broke into pieces. The weapon he was using is a special one - he came to carry out a massacre."
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2017 15:47
  • Keywords: Turkey attack selfie gunman gunfire. wounded casualties nightclub gun attack Reina club
  • Location: ISTANBUL, TURKEY
  • City: ISTANBUL, TURKEY
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,International/National Security
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015XJ04ZR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: NONE OF THE PEOPLE SHOWN IN THE FOOTAGE AS THE GUNMAN ENTERED SUSTAINED GUNSHOT WOUNDS
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS ORIGINAL MOBILE MATERIAL
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS STILL PHOTOS
    Ali Unal was standing at the entrance to Istanbul's Reina nightclub on New Year's Day when a gunman entered the club and opened fire, killing 39 people and injuring many more.
    CCTV footage showed the Unal falling to the ground and a bouncer ducking, neither of them being hit, as the attacker stormed past them firing his weapon.
    "It is in the surveillance camera footage, I am the one who is throwing himself on the ground. We had a broken ramp there; I slipped and fell on the ground, he was shooting as I fell and the iron fence broke into pieces. The weapon he was using is a special one - he came to carry out a massacre," Unal told Reuters on Tuesday (January 3).
    The attacker, who remains at large, shot dead a police officer and a civilian at the entrance to the nightclub on Sunday (January 1). He then opened fire with an automatic rifle inside, reloading his weapon half a dozen times and shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground.
    "He carried out a massacre, he was like a mad dog. As I fell, I couldn't see how many people were there or what it was, I just saw an armed man who turned at me," Unal said.
    Mobile phone footage showed the inside of the club riddled with bullet holes.
    A newspaper report and a security source said on Tuesday that the gunman appears to have been well versed in guerrilla warfare and may have trained in Syria.
    In a statement claiming the attack on Monday (January 2), Islamic State described the club as a gathering point for Christians celebrating their "apostate holiday" and said the shooting was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.
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