JEDDAH, 16 May 2006 — The Interior Ministry said yesterday that the gunman responsible for Friday’s drive-by shooting at the US Consulate appeared to be acting on his own and was not linked to any group.
The ministry identified the man as Mohammed Abdul Razak Al-Ghamdi and said he had been a psychiatric patient.
“It became clear from his medical file that he had been a patient at psychiatric clinics.
Authorities could not find any evidence linking this incident to any other sides,” the ministry said in a statement.
Al-Ghamdi, 32, fired on the guards at the consulate as he was driving by in a Nissan Maxima after Asr prayers on Friday. Police chased him as he fled in his car.
He was arrested after police wounded him when he stopped near the Saudi Aramco building in the Al-Musadia neighborhood and attempted to escape on foot. The police then put him in handcuffs.
A pistol was found in Al-Ghamdi’s car along with a number of religious books and cigarettes. Investigations confirmed that the weapon was the one used in Friday’s attack, in which one guard was wounded.
Forensic tests also showed that the weapon taken from Al-Ghamdi was the one used in Thursday’s attack on security forces in Taif, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki.
Al-Ghamdi was employed as a teacher in the “Saudi First Elementary School” in Al- Baha. His colleagues said that Al-Ghamdi had mental problems and that he was often absent from work. They said that his 18 classes per week had been reduced for that reason.
A month before Friday’s incident, Al- Ghamdi requested a 30-day unpaid leave from his job.
Al-Ghamdi is the father of a three-year-old girl and is currently separated from his wife.
His arrest has raised a number of questions in the local and international media regarding the safety of children in schools.
