Reid, Richard (1973–)

On December 22, 2001, an al Qaeda member named Richard Colvin Reid (aka Abdel Rahim; Abu Ibrahim) became known as the “shoe bomber” after attempting to destroy an airplane carrying almost 200 people by setting fire to explosives hidden in his sneakers.

Reid was born in London in 1973, the only son of an English mother and Jamaican father who divorced in 1984. His father spent most of Reid's childhood in prison; Reid himself dropped out of school in 1989, and within a year he was arrested for a mugging. Reid spent the next six years in and out of jail.

In 1995 Reid was released from prison and embraced Islam, changing his name to Abdel Rahim. Initially his conversion seemed a positive step, and Reid stayed out of trouble with the law. By late 1997, however, Reid had apparently fallen in with more radical Muslims, including Zacarias Moussaoui, who is believed to have been slated to take part in al Qaeda's attack on the United States on September 11, 2001. Reid became more combative and militant in his views, eventually becoming estranged from family members who would not convert to Islam.

In 1998, Reid disappeared from London. He is believed to have traveled to Pakistan, and then to Afghanistan, where he received terrorist training at al Qaeda camps. In the summer of 2001, he returned to England, but in mid-July 2001 he left again, traveling from London to Israel, then to Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, and perhaps Afghanistan. In December 2001 he returned to Europe, flying to Brussels and obtaining a new British passport in an apparent attempt to conceal his recent travels. Investigators believe Reid traveled so extensively to help al Qaeda identify targets for attacks.

Later in December, Reid purchased an expensive pair of basketball sneakers, using cash, then took a train to Paris, where he paid $1,800 in cash for a round-trip ticket to Antigua on a plane that stopped in Miami, Florida. Reid was scheduled to leave on December 21, 2001, but he had paid cash for the tickets and had no luggage, thus instigating an extensive security check at the airport, and he missed the flight. That evening, he went to an Internet café and sent an e-mail to a recipient in Pakistan, asking what he should do. The correspondent replied that Reid should try again, and the next day he successfully boarded American Airlines Flight 63, flying from Paris to Miami. Roughly 90 minutes after the plane took off, a flight attendant smelled sulfur and realized that Reid had lit a match. She made him put it out, but he lit another [Page 506]and attempted to set fire to the tongues of his sneakers. When she tried to make him stop, Reid attacked her, knocking her down, and then bit another attendant. Passengers quickly responded, holding Reid down, tying him up with belts and cords, and dousing him with water. A doctor on board eventually injected him with sedatives.

After Reid was subdued, the flight was redirected to Boston, Massachusetts, where investigators examined his shoes and discovered that the soles were packed with enough plastic explosives to punch a hole through the side of the plane. The conjecture was that Reid acted alone, but his e-mails and other evidence revealed his considerable connections to al Qaeda.

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