A gunman who killed two people in Halle, Germany broadcast the attack on the live streaming website Twitch, according to media reports. The killer pronounced anti-Semitic statements and Nazi-like slogans.
The man, who still has not been identified, appeared on a video stream, recorded on a GoPro camera, speaking in English. He said feminism was responsible for Western countries’ declining birth rates which are then used as an excuse for mass immigration. The attacker also accused Jews of being “the root of all problems.”
The attacker called himself “anon” and said he was a Holocaust denier. The disturbing 35-minute-long video also shows the attacker roaming the streets, seeking to break into a synagogue, bursting into a kebab shop while firing at people, as well as shooting in an unspecified direction.
According to the head of the Jewish community in Halle, Max Privorozki, the attacker who was wearing a steel helmet and carrying a rifle, tried to shoot open the doors of the synagogue but eventually failed. He also placed an improvised explosive device (IED) in front of the door, but it did not explode and was later defused by police.
The man acted alone, according to the latest media updates. The German daily Tagesspiegel, citing security sources, reports that the police consider the shooter to be a “lone wolf attacker.”
Earlier, it was reported that further perpetrators left the scene in a car, but police have not yet officially confirmed either of these claims.The suspect was arrested soon after the attack. Police did not disclose his identity, but, according to the media, he is a 30-year-old German citizen who was previously unknown to either the police or the German domestic security service BfV, which is responsible for fighting terrorism and extremism.
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the media that it was “highly likely” that the attacker was linked to far-right extremism. There are “sufficient reasons to believe [he had] a possible right-wing extremist background,” the minister told the media while condemning the attack. Some German-speaking media immediately snatched an opportunity to dub the attacker a “Nazi killer.”
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