Father of Marine killed in 2021 attack at Kabul airport arrested at SOTU

The father of a U.S. Marine who was killed at Afghanistan's Kabul airport in 2021 as America pulled out of the country was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police officers for disrupting the State of the Union address, authorities said Thursday night.

USCP identified the man as 51-year-old Steven K. Nikoui.

Nikoui's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was killed when a terrorist set off a suicide bomb outside the airport gates in Kabul, according to a news release from Florida Rep. Brian Mast's office, provided earlier in the day Thursday. Nikoui had been a guest of Mast's at President Joe Biden's SOTU.

During Biden's speech, Nikoui could be heard yelling, "Abbey Gate, Abbey Gate" at approximately 10:15 p.m. ET. Abbey Gate is the entrance to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, where a single explosive device was detonated by an ISIS-K terrorist. The blast killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghans.

Officers asked Nikoui to stop and when he did not, he was removed from the House Galleries. He was arrested for Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding. Causing a disruption to Congress in the Congressional Buildings is illegal, Capitol Police said. The charge is a misdemeanor.