GERMAN GUNMAN KILLS 10 IN RACIST ATTACK ON MIGRANTS
43-year-old inspired by far-right beliefs targets spots popular with West Asian revellers
HANAU: A suspected right-wing extremist shot dead ten people, some of them migrants from Turkey, in an overnight rampage through Hanau, near Frankfurt, before killing himself, officials said. Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the attack on two hookah bars and said it appeared to have been motivated by the “poison” of racism.
HANAU, GERMANY: A 43-year-old German man shot and killed 10 people at several locations in a Frankfurt suburb overnight in attacks that appear to have been motivated by far-right beliefs.
The gunman identified as Tobias R first attacked a hookah bar and a neighbouring cafe in central Hanau at 10pm local time on Wednesday, killing several people, before heading 2.5km west and opening fire again, first on a car and then a sports bar, killing more people.
Witnesses and surveillance videos of the suspect’s getaway car led authorities quickly to his home, near the scene of the second attack, where he was found dead near the body of his 72-yearold mother, said Peter Beuth, the interior minister for the state of Hesse.
The suspect and his mother had gunshot wounds, and the weapon was found on the suspect.
The suspect had posted a manifesto online including conspiracy theories and deeply racist views, prosecutors said. “On the suspected perpetrator’s home page, he had put up video messages and a kind of manifesto that, in addition to obscure thoughts and absurd conspiracy theories, pointed to deeply racist views,” public prosecutor Peter Frank said.
At least five of the victims were Turkish nationals, Ankara’s ambassador to Berlin said.
Hookah lounges are places where people gather to smoke flavoured tobacco from water pipes.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that while the circumstances of the attack needed to be fully investigated, the shootings exposed the “poison” of racism in German society and pledged to stand up against those who seek to divide the country.