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WORLD NEWS Friday 21 February 2020

German gunman calling for genocide kills 9 people

By DAVID McHUGH, DAVID from Middle Eastern water
RISING and FRANK JOR- pipes, and Metin Kan, who
DANS knew many of the victims,
Associated Press said it was obvious why the
HANAU, Germany (AP) — A gunman chose the neigh-
43-year-old German who borhood.
posted a manifesto calling "Look, a hookah bar there,
for the "complete extermi- a gaming parlor there, a
nation" of many "races or doner kebab place there
cultures in our midst" shot — it's a place frequented
and killed nine people of by immigrants," he said.
foreign background, most "Why this hatred of foreign-
of them Turkish, in an attack ers? We all get along here."
on a hookah bar and other People of Turkish back-
sites in a Frankfurt suburb, ground make up Germa-
authorities said Thursday. ny's single largest minority,
He was later found dead and Turkey's ambassador
at his home along with his said five of the dead were
mother, and authorities Turkish citizens.
said they were treating the Germany's federal prose-
rampage as an act of do- cutor, Peter Frank, said that In this image taken from an undated self-recorded video, a man who identifies himself as Tobias
mestic terrorism. all nine people killed were Rathjen makes a statement.
The gunman attacked the of foreign backgrounds Associated Press
hookah bar and a neigh- and that six others were in-
boring cafe in Hanau jured, one seriously. laws, and confirmed he groups, races or cultures in her party, and a deadly
around 10 p.m. Wednes- Investigators said it ap- had posted extremist vid- our midst that are destruc- attack on a synagogue in
day, killing several people, peared the gunman acted eos and a manifesto with tive in every respect," he Halle in October.
then traveled about 2.5 alone, but Frank said au- "confused ideas and far- also wrote. He said he envi- Turkish President Recep
kilometers (1.5 miles) and thorities are trying to find fetched conspiracy theo- sioned first a "rough clean- Tayyip Erdogan called it a
opened fire again, first on a out whether there were ries" on his website. ing" and then a "fine clean- "heinous attack" and ex-
car and then a sports bar, others who knew of or sup- The man identified himself ing" that could halve the pressed confidence that
claiming more victims. ported the attack. He add- as Tobias Rathjen on the world's population. German authorities "will ex-
The bloodshed came amid ed that his office is looking website, which has since He wrote: "The following ert all kinds of effort to shed
growing concerns about into any contacts the killer been taken down but had people must be completely light on all aspects of this
far-right violence in Ger- may have had inside Ger- a mailing address match- exterminated: Morocco, Al- attack."
many and stepped-up many and abroad. ing that of the home where geria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, The killer had a license to
efforts from authorities to Kadir Kose, who ran over the bodies of the killer and Israel, Syria, Jordan, Leba- possess a gun, first issued
crack down on it, includ- from a cafe he runs nearby his mother were found. non, the complete Arabian in 2013, local authorities
ing last week's detention of after hearing the first shots, In the manifesto, Rathjen Peninsula, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, told Germany's dpa news
a dozen men on suspicion said he was shocked at claimed to have ap- Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, agency. Local media re-
they were planning attacks the extent of the violence. proached police several Usbekistan, India, Pakistan, ported he owned three 9
against politicians and mi- While fights or stabbings times with conspiracy theo- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, mm pistols.
norities. aren't unheard of, he said, ries. But Beuth said it does Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia Guns are strictly regulated
Chancellor Angela Merkel "this is a whole other level, not appear the gunman and the Philippines." in Germany, though some
said the shootings exposed something we hear about had a criminal record or The attack was quickly 5.4 million of the country's
the "poison" of racism in Ger- from America." was on the radar of Ger- condemned by many or- 83 million people possess
many, and she pledged to Witnesses and surveillance many's domestic intelli- ganizations, including the them. Owners need to un-
stand up against those who videos of the getaway car gence agency. Central Council of Muslims, dergo background checks,
seek to divide the country. led authorities quickly to Among the documents the Confederation of Kurd- including showing that they
"There is much to indicate the gunman's home, said posted to the website was ish Associations in Germa- are not mentally ill. The
that the perpetrator acted Peter Beuth, interior minis- a 24-page, rambling mani- ny, and the Central Council gunman's permit was last
out of far-right extremist, ter for the state of Hesse. festo in German detailing, of Jews. checked in 2019, dpa said.
racist motives," she said. Both the attacker and his among other things, fears "This poison exists in our so- German police were also
"Out of hatred for people 72-year-old mother had that he has been under ciety and its is responsible examining a video he may
with other origins, other gunshot wounds, and the government surveillance for far too many crimes," have posted online several
faiths or a different appear- weapon was found on him, for years. He blamed the Merkel said, citing killings days before the attack in
ance." Beuth said. surveillance for his inability committed by a far-right which he detailed a con-
Hookah lounges are places Frank identified the gun- to have a relationship with gang known as the NSU, spiracy theory about child
where people gather to man only as Tobias R., in a woman. the fatal shooting last year abuse in the U.S., dpa re-
smoke flavored tobacco line with German privacy "We now have ethnic of a regional politician from ported. q