Ten people were killed in Germany overnight by a far-Right gunman who attacked two shisha bars in the western town of Hanau before turning his gun on himself. The dead reportedly included a pregnant woman.
The shooter, a 43-year-old German national named on social media as Tobias Rathjen, left behind a 24-page manifesto which makes clear the motives behind the killings were racist.
His body was found with the murder weapon beside it when police stormed his apartment not far from the site of one of the shootings.
The body of a 72-year-old woman identified as his mother was also found in the apartment. Police believe Rathjen may have killed her before turning his gun on himself.
The shootings targeted shisha bars frequented by immigrant communities in Hanau, a commuter town east of Frankfurt.
The first attack took place at the Midnight shisha bar in central Hanau at around 10pm local time (9pm GMT) on Wednesday night. Witnesses described hearing several gunshots and panic.
Rathjen then fled the scene in a black car and carried out a second attack on the Arena Bar and Cafe in the Kesselstadt suburb, not far from his apartment.
Nine people were killed in the attacks on the shisha bars, which are believed to have been frequented mainly by Turkish and Kurdish immigrant communities. Five Turkish citizens were along the dead, according to the Turkish Embassy.
Germany's Bild newspaper reported that the victims included a 35-year-old mother of two who was pregnant with a third child.
Police were able to identify Rathjen from the license plate of his car and pursued him to his home. But he and his mother were dead by the time they stormed the apartment.
Rathjen left behind a 24-page manifesto in which he puts forward a mixture of conspiracy theories and far-Right racist views.
He calls for the extermination of several peoples in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Although he does not emphasise the issue of religion, most of the countries he names all have Muslim majority populations.
He justifies his call for mass murder by claiming certain races can be scientifically proved to be superior to others.
He shows signs of paranoia and espouses conspiracy theories, claiming he has been under surveillance by intelligence services and that Donald Trump stole his ideas.
He also claims to have been voluntarily celibate for 18 years and never to have had a relationship with a woman.
Rathjen also posted a video in English on his website recently. Although the website has since been taken down, the video was circulating on social media on Thursday.
“This is my personal message to all Americans,” Rathjen says in mildly accented English in the recording, “Your country is under control of invisible secret societies... If you don’t believe the following, you’d better wake up, quick!”
He goes on to claim that children are tortured and killed in Satanic worship rituals at “secret underground military bases” in the US.
German authorities believe Rathjen had no accomplices and acted alone. He had no criminal record and had never come to the attention of police or security services before the attacks, prosecutors said.
He was a registered marksman and had a gun license to possess several guns, including a 9mm handgun.
Germany has strict gun control laws and licenses are hard to obtain. They are generally only issued to registered hunters and marksmen who have to pass tough checks.
Rathjen claimed to have a university degree and his manifesto is written in excellent German, according to experts. Although he speaks with an accent, his English is fluent in his video message to Americans.
Before his website was taken down it reportedly contained a brief CV in which Rathjen claimed to have studied business management and worked as a trainee banker in Frankfurt.
The killings come just days after German police arrested 12 men on suspicion of forming a far-Right terror cell and planning several shooting attacks on mosques.
They will raise concerns at the growing threat from far-Right extremism in Germany. Last year a bloodbath was narrowly avoided when a far-Right gunman failed to break into a packed synagogue in the east German city of Halle. He later shot dead two passers-by in frustration.
“Today is a very sad day for our country. I am thinking primarily of the families and friends of the murdered,” Angela Merkel said in a statement.
“There is currently considerable evidence that the perpetrator acted from far-Right, racist motives. Hatred of people of different origins, beliefs or looks.
“Racism is a poison, hate is a poison. This poison exists in our society and it is to blame for far too many crimes.”
Turkish media named two of the victims as Gökhan Gültekin and Ferhat Ünvar, both employees of the Arena café. Ünvar was 22 years old, according the Hurriyet newspaper.
"Half of our hearts are gone. Everything is gone. My Gökhan is gone, Ferhat is gone. They're all gone," said Kemal Koçak, the owner of the Arena.
The newspaper reported that three Turkish customers, a Polish woman, and a Bosnian man were also killed inside Arena before the gunman moved ran out into the street to continue the shooting rampage.
