Studying to become a teacher like his brother, Wail, Waleed al-Shehri was from ‘Asir province, a poor region in southwestern Saudi Arabia that borders Yemen. Since Shehri’s family adhered to the Wahhabi school of Islam, he grew up in a very conservative household. His family did not have satellite television or internet and he was forbidden to play music or have contact with girls until he was old enough for an arranged marriage. Early media accounts said that Waleed had earned his pilot’s certificate at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1997. However, after a short investigation, Embry-Riddle was discovered to have not had any involvement in the flight training of the terrorists. A former student shared the same name as one of the hijackers, but the student, who is still alive, had no connections to al-Qaeda. Waleed al-Shehri, his brother Wail, and Abdulaziz al-Omari arrived together at Logan Airport at 06:45 on the morning of September 11, 2001, having left their Ford Focus rental car in the airport parking facility. Upon check-in, Wail al-Shehri was selected by the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS), as was his brother Waleed, and Flight 11 hijacker Satam al-Suqami. Mohamed Atta, the pilot hijacker on Flight 11 had also been selected in Portland. Being selected by CAPPS meant that their checked baggage were subject to extra screening. As the CAPPS was only for luggage, the three hijackers did not undergo any extra scrutiny at the passenger security checkpoint. One of the five Globe Aviation security-screeners on-duty later reported that either Wail or Waleed had been using a crutch when they passed through security – and that the crutch had been X-rayed as per regulations.

By 7:40 a.m., all five hijackers were aboard the flight, which was scheduled to depart at 7:45 a.m. Wail and Waleed al-Shehri sat together in first class in seats 2A and 2B respectively. The aircraft taxied away from Gate 26 and departed Logan International Airport at 7:59 a.m. from runway 4R after a 14-minute delay. The hijacking of Flight 11 began at approximately 08:14, which is when the pilot stopped responding to air traffic control. Once the hijacking began, the brothers are suspected of having stabbed two flight attendants. At 08:46:40, Mohamed Atta deliberately crashed Flight 11 into the northern facade of the North Tower (Tower 1) of the World Trade Center. The damage caused to the North Tower destroyed any means of escape from above the impact zone, trapping 1,344 people. The North Tower collapsed at 10:28, after burning for 102 minutes.