Hanau shooting: Neo-Nazi gunman kills nine in Germany before turning gun on himself and mother at their home

A far-right gunman opened fire on two shisha lounges in Germany last night killing nine people in a massacre being treated as a domestic terror attack.

The man, 43, named locally as Tobias R, fled to his nearby home where he and his 72-year-old mother were found dead by police with bullet wounds.

He had left behind a video and note expressing “extreme Right-wing views” before carrying out the bloodbath in the western city of Hanau, 15 miles east of Frankfurt.

In both bars, customers were predominantly Turkish and Kurdish. At least six more casualties are in hospital with serious injuries.

The gunman, named locally as Tobias R, killed nine people as he targeted shisha bars

Police, who had launched a ­seven-hour manhunt, said their information suggested the gunman had committed suicide, adding: “There are no indications that other suspects were involved. One of the two dead people found is highly likely the perpetrator.”

The killer’s father was led away from the apartment in handcuffs, but police later said he had no involvement in the ­massacre.

At least three people, one believed to be female, were killed at the Midnight shisha bar, where witnesses reported hearing a dozen gunshots at about 10pm.

The suspect then sped away in a dark car to the Kesselstadt neighbourhood less than two miles away and opened fire at the Arena Bar & Cafe, where at least five people were killed.

Shisha bars offering smoking lounges with traditional Middle Eastern hookah pipes are popular in immigrant communities across Germany. Federal prosecutors took charge of the investigation today and are treating it as an act of domestic terrorism.

Bild, Germany’s biggest newspaper, identified the gunman and added the suspect had expressed far-Right views in a written confession. Ammunition and gun magazines were found in his car, it said.

The Die Welt newspaper said the killer delivered a “personal message to all Americans” in fluent English in a video posted online a few days ago. In it he repeated conspiracy theories about “underground military facilities” and claiming the country is run by “secret societies”.

(AP)

Peter Beuth, interior minister for the state of Hesse, said a website believed to be run by the suspect is being examined.

He said: “Initial analysis of the webpage of the suspect indicate a xenophobic motivation. This is an attack on our free and peaceful society.”

Mr Beuth added the shooter legally possessed firearms and was a sports marksman.

(AP)

Some of those killed were of Turkish origin, a spokesman for the Turkish presidency said. Bild reported the others were of Kurdish descent.

Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: “According to the initial information, it was an attack with a racist motive, but we would need to wait for the [official] statement.”

Can-Luca Frisenna, whose father and brother run one of the two bars attacked, said he rushed there after learning about the shooting.

He said: “I heard my father was affected and my little brother, they run the kiosk, I don’t have much to do with it. But then I saw them both — they were horrified and they were crying and everything. So everyone was shocked.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called off a planned visit today to a university in Halle. Steffen Seibert, Mrs Merkel’s spokesman, said on Twitter: “Thoughts this morning are with the people of Hanau, in whose midst this terrible crime was committed. Deep sympathy for the affected families, who are grieving for their dead. We hope those wounded will soon recover.”

After the shootings, police officers swarmed central Hanau, cordoning off the area as a helicopter hovered overhead. A Mercedes covered in thermal foil could also be seen, with shattered glass next to it.

This morning, forensic police inspected the scene at one of the bars close to Hanau’s historic marketplace. Outside the suspect’s home, a dark BMW was lifted on to a truck.

The attack comes four days after one person was killed in a shooting in Berlin near a Turkish comedy show and amid the rise of the far-Right in Germany and public anger over immigration policies.

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