A gunman killed nine people in two shootings at shisha bars and one at his home in the German town of Hanau on Wednesday night, police said.
The suspect then killed himself after also killing his mother at his home, police said.
Nine people died in the attacks on the two bars at about 10pm on Wednesday night, while five others shot have life-threatening injuries, police said.
Photo: AFP
Some of those killed were of Turkish origin, Turkish presidency spokesman Ibrahim Kaln said.
“We expect German authorities to show maximum effort to enlighten this case. Racism is a collective cancer,” Kaln said on Twitter.
The killer was named by police as 43-year-old Tobias R. His surname was not given, in line with German practice.
He shot himself and his 72-year-old mother at home, police said. They also confirmed that he possessed a hunting license.
The Bild newspaper said he expressed extreme right-wing views in a letter of confession that he left behind.
After the murders, a huge hunt was launched for the perpetrator involving dozens of armed police and a helicopter hovering above the commuter town 25km east of Frankfurt.
Police tweeted at about 5am that special police force officers had stormed the home of the alleged suspect and found him dead along with another body.
“There are currently no indications of other perpetrators,” police said in a statement.
Police sealed off and searched the home in Hanau’s Kesselstadt District, near the scene of one of the shootings, after following up witness statements on a getaway vehicle.
Local media reported that eight or nine shots were fired at the Midnight shisha bar on Heumarkt in the center of the town at about 10pm.
A dark vehicle was seen leaving the scene. Soon afterward, shots were fired at a second shisha bar — the Arena Bar and Cafe in Kurt-Schumacher-Platz in Kesselstadt District.
Federal prosecutors yesterday said that they were taking charge of investigating the shooting amid reports that the suspect might have had a far-right motive.
Witnesses to the Hanau attack described how the attacker had randomly fired shots into the bars.
One man in his early 30s said he received a call from a friend who had been in one of the bars.
“He left a message to tell me he had been hit,” the man, who was not identified, told NTV. “I called him back immediately. He told me he was in an ambulance. He had a bullet in his shoulder.”
“These are people we have known for years,” the son of the Arena Bar manager said of two employees gunned down. “That there are people out there who are so heartless, shooting others who have done nothing wrong... It is a shock for everyone.”
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