Halle / Saale (AP) - In the attack on a synagogue and a doner kebab a suspected right-wing extremist in Halle / Saale shot dead two people. Many questions about the violence are still unclear.
WHAT WE KNOW
In an anti-Semitic attack, two people were shot dead in Halle / Saale. In addition, according to data of Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) several people were injured. A right-wing extremist motive is very likely. However, the current state of knowledge does not allow it to finally classify the act.
A heavily armed culprit had tried at noon to penetrate the synagogue in Halle. He failed, however. He filed in the attack for information from security circles also home-made explosives in front of the synagogue. It had fallen several shots. At the time, dozens of people celebrated the highest Jewish holiday in Yom Kippur.
The chairman of the Jewish Community Hall, Max Privorozki, said that the synagogue's camera had seen the offender try to open the doors with a steel helmet and rifle. In addition, the perpetrators or tried to shoot open the gate of the neighboring Jewish cemetery, said Privorozki the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" and the "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" (Thursday).
A victim was found on a street near the downtown synagogue. The woman was struck by dpa information in front of the Jewish house of the deadly shots. There was also a male dead in or on a kebab snack. According to eyewitness reports, a man in a combat suit with a rifle shot in the kebab shop and killed a visitor. The snack bar is located about 600 meters away from the synagogue.
According to police, there were also shots in Landsberg about 15 kilometers away.
According to a spokesman, two injured people are being treated at Halle University Hospital. It is a man and a woman. Both have gunshot wounds, but are out of danger.
The alleged perpetrator should be after dpa information to the 27-year-old Stephan B. act. It should be German national. The man was the first information according to the authorities previously not noticed as part of the right-wing extremist scene in Saxony-Anhalt.
According to dpa information, everything points to a single perpetrator. He was arrested in the early afternoon. The police had previously reported that several armed perpetrators are in a car on the run. Media had published photos and videos, but showed only a masked shooter. Even eyewitnesses spoke only of a culprit.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office has taken over the investigation. It investigates for murder of particular importance.
The city of Halle spoke in the afternoon of a «amoklage». It was not until 6:15 pm that the police lifted their warning of an acute threat to the population.
WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW
The alleged perpetrator of the attacks in Halle / Saale is said to have uploaded a Confessional video in the social networks. The total of almost 36 minutes long video is available dpa. Until the evening there was no confirmation from the authorities that the man in the video is the assassin. On display is a young man with a bald skull in combat gear.
In the video, which was distributed on Wednesday, you can see how obviously firing is taking place in the center of Halle. Among other things, it is shown how in a doner kebab several times shot at a man who lies behind a refrigerator. The pictures are probably from a camera attached to a helmet.
The exact number of victims is unknown, as well as the identity of those killed and the injured.
Whether the woman killed in front of the synagogue and the man shot at the doner kebab accidentally became victims or were deliberately attacked by the offender is still unclear.
For the circumstances of the flight and the arrest of the alleged perpetrator, there were initially no official information.
At first it was also unclear how the perpetrator came to his guns.
In the Landsberg (Saalekreis), about 15 kilometers from Halle, policemen searched homes on Wednesday evening. In the district Wiedersdorf also shots had fallen, as a spokeswoman for the police Hall of the dpa confirmed. At first she did not want to comment on the circumstances surrounding the incident.
