Shooter kills nine in German bar, cafe

Officials see ‘xenophobic’ motive.

February 20, 2020 06:34 am | Updated December 04, 2021 11:57 pm IST - HANAU, Germany

 Forensic experts are seen outside a shisha bar after a shooting in Hanau near Frankfurt, Germany

Forensic experts are seen outside a shisha bar after a shooting in Hanau near Frankfurt, Germany

A shooter with suspected far-right beliefs killed nine people at a shisha bar and a cafe in the German city of Hanau, the police said on Thursday, before apparently killing himself and his mother. Federal counter-terror prosecutors said they were investigating the case, which showed “signs of a xenophobic motive”.

The gunman was identified as 43-year-old German Tobias R. Around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, he rang the doorbell at the shisha bar and shot at people in the smoking section, killing five, mass-market daily Bild said.

He then fled by car before opening fire at the Arena Bar & Cafe, killing three people outside. One of the injured persons died later.

The gunman left behind online material that suggested a terror attack motivated by “a hostile attitude to foreigners”, said Peter Beuth, the Interior Minister of the state of Hesse.

 

Among the dead were “several victims of Kurdish origin”, the Kon-Med association of Kurds in Germany said in a statement, adding that it was “furious” that authorities were not doing more to combat rightwing extremism.

Alarm has been growing about an increasingly emboldened far-right movement in Germany, following a deadly anti-Semitic attack in Halle and the murder of a pro-migrant politician last year.

The police said one of those injured in Hanau had also died, bringing the toll from the bar attacks to nine.

Another person who was injured remains in critical condition, Mr. Beuth told reporters.

 

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