A German gunman posted a manifesto calling for the destruction of different “races or cultures in our midst” before killing 11 people, including his mother and himself.
German police said 43-year-old Tobias R. shot and killed nine people on Wednesday night, starting his attack at a hookah bar in the city of Hanau before continuing on to several other places. The attacker eventually killed his mother and, lastly, himself, according to the New York Post.
Authorities said that before his killing spree, Tobias posted a manifesto online calling for the “complete extermination” of other races.
“On the suspected perpetrator’s home page, he had put up video messages and a kind of manifesto that, in addition to obscure thoughts and absurd conspiracy theories, pointed to deeply racist views,” federal prosecutor Peter Frank said. He added that the manifesto has since been taken down.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel denounced the attack and the attacker as motivated by racist “poison.”
“Racism is a poison. Hate is a poison, and this poison exists in our society and is already to blame for many crimes,” Merkel said on Thursday.
Last week, German police announced the arrest of a dozen members of a newly formed group planning a series of attacks on 10 mosques across Germany. The suspects are part of the group Der harte Kern, which translates to “The Hard Core.” The extremist group was formed in September over social media and had already held a meeting to plan the attack.
