On New Year’s Eve, there was a shooting at a nightclub in Istanbul. A man wearing a Santa suit killed 39 people and injured 69. Of the dead, 21 of them have been identified; 16 were foreigners, and 5 were Turkish.
William Jacob Raak, 35, a man from Delaware, survived by playing dead. Even after he was injured, he stayed still so the shooter would leave him alone.
He said:
“When he shot me I didn’t move — I just let him shoot me … I was shot when I was already on the ground. He was shooting people that he had already shot.’’
He is the only U.S. citizen injured in the tragic shooting. Raak was with a group of nine people, and seven of them were shot.
On Monday, ISIS claimed responsibility for the shooting. The Turkish police have detained eight people, but the gunman hasn’t been found.
Delaware business owner injured in Istanbul nightclub shooting https://t.co/pGqH0mdJh3 pic.twitter.com/cwPpxNJo4T
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 2, 2017
Juliette Kayyem, CNN’s national security analyst, said:
“In terms of the soft-target aspects of this attack, it’s a youthful place, a bar that’s pretty well-known in particular to expats. It’s sort of the lively area of Istanbul, and especially on New Year’s Eve night — all of those have hallmarks of ISIS-inspired, if not directed attacks to maximize casualties and get a lot of news around it.”
Raak’s mother, Grace, said:
‘‘We are praying for those that were injured, for their speedy recovery, and we’re praying for the family and friends of those who lost loved ones.”
This is a terrible tragedy. I hope that those who were injured recover soon. A few of them are in critical condition.
Unfortunately, this is not the first tragedy the people of Turkey have faced this year. Back in the summer, there was an attack at the airport in Istanbul. Over 39 people died and 147 people were injured.
Featured image via Twitter.
