A man suspected of fatally shooting several people in the German city of Hanau was found dead at his home early Thursday, hours after the attacks in and outside two hookah lounges, police said.
Officers also found another body at the same address, according to a police tweet. No details were released on that person.
The attacks happened minutes apart, late on Wednesday night in two districts of Hanau. Reports say the bars have been identified as “Midnight” and the “Arena” cafe, frequented by the city’s Kurdish community.
No motive has been given for the attacks by police or the authorities. Germany has been on alert for far-right extremism, but by early Thursday no evidence of such a motive has been linked to these attacks.
In the aftermath of the shootings, police officers swarmed central Hanau, cordoning off the area of one of the shootings as a helicopter hovered overhead. A car covered in thermal foil also could be seen, with shattered glass next to it. Forensic experts in white overalls collected evidence.
Initially police said that eight people were killed and around five wounded — another fatality was confirmed later. They said a dark vehicle was spotted leaving the location of the first attack and another shooting was reported later at a second scene, about 2 1/2 kilometers (1 1/2 miles) away.
There was no immediate information on the identities of the victims. Hookah lounges are places where people gather to smoke flavored tobacco from Middle Eastern water pipes.
“This was a terrible evening that will certainly occupy us for a long, long time and we will remember with sadness, “Hanau Mayor Claus Kaminsky told the Bild newspaper. Lawmaker Katja Leikert, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party who represents Hanau in the German parliament, tweeted that it was “a real horror scenario for us all.”
Hanau is about 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Frankfurt. It has about 100,000 inhabitants and is in Hesse state.
Police from neighbouring Bavaria were deployed to help their local colleagues, dpa reported.
