A forty-three-year-old German man shot nine people dead in two local hookah bars in Hanau, Germany, on Wednesday evening and was found dead in his apartment several hours later by police along with his dead mother. According to statements by local authorities yesterday, the motive for the crime was apparently xenophobia, and the Supreme State Prosecutor is investigating the case as one of suspected terrorism.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the victims' citizenship, but according to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), many of them were of immigrant origin. News server Romea.cz has been informed that one of the victims was a 35-year-old Romani woman.
Nine of the victims and most of those he injured have roots abroad, according to DPA. According to social media posts researched by news server Romea.cz one of the victims in the second bar was a 35-year-old Romani woman.
Videos shared by Romani Facebook users have demonstrated she was a victim. Her death has also been confirmed by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, which stated that she was a German citizen who also had Polish roots.
"The Central Council and all Roma and Sinti in Germany are morning the murdered young woman, a mother of two. We are also holding all the victims of this right-wing terrorist attack in our thoughts," Romani Rose, the chair of the Central Council, told the German media.
The Romani victim, Mercedes K., was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest. "I heard from relatives and friends that she was killed," German media quoted a friend of the murdered woman as saying.
"I didn't want to believe it, but then I saw the videos of her family weeping," the friend of Mercedes told German media.
