Fast Facts: Mehmet Ali Agca

ANKARA, Turkey – The Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II was taken into custody after a court ordered him to return to prison.

RELEASE

— Mehmet Ali Agca was released from prison eight days ago.

— He shot Pope John Paul II in 1981.

— He served more than 25 years in Italy and Turkey for the plot against the pontiff and the slaying of a Turkish journalist.

— The 48-year-old Agca was extradited to Turkey in 2000 after serving almost 20 years in prison in Italy for shooting and wounding the pope.

SHOOTING THE POPE

— Agca shot the pope as he rode in an open car in St. Peter's Square in Rome on May 13, 1981, and was captured immediately afterward.

— John Paul was hit in the abdomen, left hand and right arm but recovered because the bullets missed vital organs.

POPE FORGAVE AGCA

— John Paul II met with Agca in Italy's Rebibbia prison in 1983 and forgave him for the shooting.

— Agca's motive for the attack remains unclear.

KILLED A JOURNALIST

— Agca received a life sentence, which amounts to 36 years under Turkish law, for murdering a Turkish journalist in 1979.

— He served less than six months of that sentence before he escaped, resurfacing in 1981 in Rome.

— An amnesty later deducted ten more years from his time, leaving a little more than 25 years to be served.