Three clues to catch... The shisha bar shooter
The hunt to find the man behind a deadly rampage
XENOPHOBIC MOTIVE
Before 19 February this year, the town of Hanau, near Frankfurt, in Germany, was best known for its goldsmith industry and port.
But on that night, it became one of the most talked-about towns in the world, when Tobias Rathjen opened fire in three bars.
From that moment, Hanau would forever be known as the backdrop to an abhorrent and fatal shooting spree at the hands of a far-right terrorist.
It was around 10pm when gunman Tobias Rathjen, then 43, stormed a shisha bar in the city centre.
It was a place where friends gathered to smoke flavoured tobacco from a communal water pipe, known as a hookah.
Witnesses reported hearing gunshots from the bar, and from a second bar close by, before a man fled the scene in a black car.
He sped off, driving almost two miles to a third shisha bar.
There, he reached for his gun yet again, spraying bullets across the groups of innocent revellers.
A total of nine people were killed, including a 35-year-old pregnant mum-oftwo – in the three attacks. Five others were wounded.
All of the victims were aged between 21 and 44. They included both German and foreign citizens, but all were from immigrant backgrounds, leading police to conclude there may have been a xenophobic motive for the killings.
They launched a manhunt, and a helicopter was brought in to search for what police feared was more than one attacker.
With the help of eye-witness statements and surveillance cameras, officers moved nearer to their sole suspect.
Hours after the incident, police stormed the house of 43-year-old local Tobias Rathjen. But what they found was shocking. Rathjen was dead. As was his 72-year-old mother.
Rathjen had shot dead his mother before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life.
So why were police so certain Rathjen had the blood of nine lives on his hands?
We take a look at some of the clues that unmasked this racist brute.
THE ONLINE FOOTPRINT
I t quickly transpired that Tobias Rathjen didn’t keep his extremely racist views a secret. Straight after the attacks, the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel told the Press, ‘There are many indications at the moment that the perpetrator acted on right-wing extremist, racist motives, out of hatred towards people of other origins, religion or appearance.’
And the true extent of his hatred was revealed in Rathjen’s personal website.
In an uploaded video, he revealed his far-right conspiracy theories.
He said the US was under the control of invisible societies and claimed there were ‘deep underground military bases’ in which ‘they abuse, torture and kill little children’.
Rathjen had also uploaded a 24-page manifesto, in which he called for the ‘complete extermination’ of many ‘races or cultures in our midst’.
He listed races and nations he
THE GETAWAY CAR
A s shocked revellers dealt with the aftermath of the first two attacks that dreadful night, witnesses reported seeing a vehicle flee the scene at around 10pm.
German police later said they were searching for ‘a dark car’ in connection with the incident.
They urged any witnesses with mobile-phone footage to upload it to a police website.
Tip-offs from locals who’d seen a car matching the description parked on the street allowed police to track down the suspect.
Officials ID-checked the number plate on the car and matched it to the home of Tobias Rathjen.
Following the storming of his apartment, police turned their attention to the getaway car.
In it, they found ammunition, a gun holster and gun magazines.
Records showed that Rathjen had legally purchased the same type of gun as the one used in the attack, a Glock 17
9mm Luger, via an online portal.
He’d held a firearms licence since 2013.
THE LOCATIONS
T he scenes of the atrocity were the Midnight shisha bar and La Votre cafe and bar in central Hanau, and the Arena Bar & Cafe – another shisha spot across town.
Security camera footage from one of the bars showed that Rathjen had visited the premises just days before the attack.
It indicated this wasn’t just a random rampage.
He knew exactly who he was targeting.
Shisha bars are popular in many parts of the world and are traditionally found in Middle Eastern and Asian countries.
In fact, the shisha bars targeted were frequented mainly by the Turkish and Kurdish immigrant communities of Hanau.
This information only added to the evidence of a xenophobic motive.