GERMANY Gunman kills 2 in failed attack on synagogue
HALLE, Germany — A heavily armed assailant ranting about Jews tried to force his way into a synagogue in Germany on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, then shot two people to death nearby in an attack Wednesday that was livestreamed on a popular gaming site.
The attacker shot at the door of the synagogue in the eastern city of Halle but did not get in as 70 to 80 people inside, including 10 Americans, were observing the holy day.
The gunman shouted that Jews were “the root” of “problems” such as feminism and “mass immigration,” according to a group that tracks online extremism. It said a roughly 36minute video posted online featured the assailant, who spoke a combination of English and German, denying the Holocaust before he shot a woman in the street after failing to enter the synagogue. He then entered a nearby kebab shop and killed another person before fleeing.
Germany’s top security official, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, said authorities must assume that it was an antiSemitic attack, and said prosecutors believe there may be a rightwing extremist motive. He said several people were hurt.
Authorities said shortly after the shooting that a person had been arrested. They gave no information on the suspect but Der Spiegel and dpa, which cited unidentified security sources, said the suspect is a 27yearold German citizen from SaxonyAnhalt state, where Halle is located. They identified him only as Stephan B.
The filming of Wednesday’s attack echoed another horrific shooting halfway around the world when a farright white supremacist in March killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and livestreamed much of the attack on Facebook. That massacre drew strong criticism of social media giants for not immediately finding and blocking such a violent video.
Wednesday’s assault followed attacks in the United States over the past year on synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway (San Diego County).