Far-right gunman kills two in Germany
Worshippers barricade doors as suspected farright attacker live-streams shootings in German city
Two people were killed on the streets of the German city of Halle yesterday after a suspected far-right gunman failed to storm a synagogue in an attack broadcast on a live-streaming website. Several bystanders were also injured but a bloodbath was avoided because the gunman was unable to enter the city’s synagogue, which was packed for Yom Kippur. Before the shooting began, he said in English: “My name is Anon and I think the Holocaust never happened.”
TWO people were killed on the streets of the German city of Halle yesterday after a suspected far-right gunman failed to storm a synagogue in an attack broadcast on a live-streaming website.
Several bystanders were also injured but a bloodbath was avoided because the gunman was unable to enter the city’s synagogue, which was packed with 70 people marking the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
In headcam footage posted on Twitch, the gunman fired three shotgun rounds into the synagogue’s door, but failed to break it down.
Before the shooting began, he said in English: “My name is Anon and I think the Holocaust never happened … [indecipherable] … feminism is the cause of declining birth rates in the West, which acts as a scapegoat for mass immigration – and the root of all these problems is the Jew.”
The attacker was named by the German press last night as Stephan B, a 27-year-old German from the surrounding state of Saxony-anhalt. The arrested man was last night being treated in hospital for injuries sustained during his attempt to escape. According to unconfirmed reports, he is a “white German”.
Horst Seehofer, the German interior minister, said the attack was “at least anti-semitic” and that federal prosecutors had taken over the investigation as it bore indications of Right-wing extremism.
There were conflicting reports over whether one or more suspects were in- volved in the attacks, but police said the evidence pointed to a lone gunman.
At around noon local time, he tried to force his way into the synagogue, which was packed with worshippers, including children and the elderly. Those inside were alerted by the sound of gunfire, and when they saw what was happening on the security cameras, they barricaded the doors.
“The perpetrator shot multiple times at the door and threw a couple of Molotov cocktails, fireworks or grenades at it. But the door stayed closed, God has protected us,” said Max Privorotzki, the head of the Jewish community in Halle.
Those outside were not so fortunate. The gunman turned his frustration on a woman walking on the street outside the nearby Jewish cemetery. The video footage showed that he shot her from behind. Her body lay covered with a blue tarpaulin yesterday afternoon, alongside a discarded backpack.
He then continued to a Turkish kebab shop a few streets away, where he shot one man dead before returning to fire several shots into his lifeless body.
Konrad Rösler, an eyewitness, was in the kebab shop as the gunman approached. “We saw this guy outside. He had army gear on, a helmet, and an assault rifle,” he told Bild newspaper.
“And then I saw … that he wanted to throw something like a grenade in the store. It was probably a firework. It bounced off the door frame and exploded. Then he opened fire.
“I found a toilet and locked myself inside. Then I heard another bang. There were screams, too. At some point I heard the police and I made myself known and went out.”
The gunman was injured in a shootout with police before fleeing in a
‘He opened fire. I found a toilet and locked myself inside. Then I heard another bang. There were screams, too’
rented car to the village of Landsberg, just outside Halle. There, he drove to a mechanics’ workshop, where he demanded another vehicle. He shot an employee who tried to stop him and stole a taxi parked outside.
His escape was cut off when the stolen taxi crashed with a lorry.
Central Halle was on lockdown for most of the afternoon amid reports of more gunmen on the loose. The alert was finally lifted last night.
The footage streamed on a video game site evoked parallels with March’s mosque shootings in New Zealand in which Brenton Tarrant, the gunman, live-streamed his attack on Facebook.
The attack comes after warnings from the German intelligence services of a growing threat from home-grown extremism. Halle is a known centre for far-right sympathisers – notably the Indentitarian movement, which was accused of having links to Tarrant.