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As it happenedended

Germany synagogue shooting - live: Reports of 'shots fired' in second location after gunman kills at least two in Halle

Follow latest updates after multiple people shot in attack

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 09 October 2019 14:30 BST
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Germany synagogue shooting: round up

A killer is on the run after shooting multiple people at a Synagogue in Germany, police say.

Multiple people are dead and injured following the attack in Halle, a city in the east of Germany.

Police warned the attacker had "fled" and that people should stay inside.

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The shooter also fired into a kebab shop, according to numerous reports.

Andrew Griffin9 October 2019 13:37

Federal prosecutors are taking over investigations after the shooting, German'y Spiegel magazine is reporting.

Andrew Griffin9 October 2019 14:00

The mayor of Landsberg has confirmed that the suspects hijacked a car, according to Reuters.

The shooters are thought to have fled in a different vehicle before stealing one near Landsberg, and fleeing.

Andrew Griffin9 October 2019 14:06

Tonight, Leipzig had been scheduled to celebrate the "Festival of Lights" – which is extra special this year. It's not clear whether it will still go ahead.

Exactly 30 years ago, 70,000 people took to the streets to demonstrate against the government in the GDR, marching across the city's ring road.

Now, those events are commemorated on 9 October. Citizens take part in an event called "Prayer for Peace" as well as other major happenings in the city.

Andrew Griffin9 October 2019 14:09

Andrew Griffin9 October 2019 14:10

The mayor of the eastern German town of Landsberg said on Wednesday that two people suspected of carrying out a deadly shooting attack in the area had hijacked a car and were on a motorway that leads to Munich.

Anja Werner made the comments after two people were killed in a shooting in the eastern city of Halle and a second shooting incident was reported in nearby Landsberg.

Andrew Griffin9 October 2019 14:19

An area east of Halle has been sealed off, according to Bild. A suspect may be holed up there, police said.

Andrew Griffin9 October 2019 14:36

Several shots were fired Wednesday in the eastern German city of Halle, leaving two people dead as the suspected assailants fled, police said. The exact target of the attack was not clear, since it took place near a synagogue and a kebab shop, witnesses said.

Police said in a tweet that the suspects fled in a car, and soon after reported that one person had been arrested. They gave no information about that person or reasons why they thought the attack was carried out by multiple assailants.

Officers were out in force across Halle, a city of 240,000, hunting down more suspects and urging residents to stay at home or indoors. The railway station in Halle was closed as a precaution.

Police gave no details about the target, or targets, of the attack but federal prosecutors, who handle cases involving suspected terrorism or national security, took over the investigation.

A video clip broadcast by regional public broadcaster MDR showed a man in a helmet and an olive-colored top getting out of a car and firing four shots from behind the vehicle from a long-barreled gun. It wasn't clear what he was shooting at.

Pictures from the scene showed a body lying in the street behind a police cordon. News agency dpa reported the body was lying opposite a synagogue, about 30 meters (yards) away.

Wednesday is the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, when synagogues would be busy.

A witness interviewed on n-tv television said he had been in a kebab shop when a man with a helmet and a military jacket threw something that looked like a grenade, which bounced off the doorframe. Conrad Roessler said the man then shot into the shop at least once.

"All the customers next to me ran, of course I did too — I think there were five or six of us in there," Roessler said. "The man behind me probably died."

"I hid in the toilet," he said. "The others looked for the back entrance. I didn't know if there was one. I locked myself quietly in this toilet, and wrote to my family that I love them, and waited for something to happen."

Police then came into the shop, he said.

The head of Halle's Jewish community, Max Privorotzki, told news magazine Der Spiegel there were 70 or 80 people inside the synagogue and security outside when the shooting occurred.

Synagogues are often protected by police in Germany, and police in two other eastern cities, Dresden and Leipzig, stepped up security at synagogues there after the shooting in Halle.

Police said shots were also fired in Landsberg, about 15 kilometers (nearly 10 miles) from Halle. It wasn't clear whether the two shootings Wednesday were related.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, lamented what he called "terrible news from Halle" but government officials said they had no information on the attack.

The European Parliament held a moment of silence at the start of its session Wednesday to mark the unfolding situation in Halle.

Andrew Griffin9 October 2019 15:27

Footage has been released online of the attack. 35 minutes of video – apparently taken from a head-mounted camera and similar to the New Zealand attack – is circulating on a video game site. In the video, the attacker uses far-right slurs and attacks Jews, before shooting.

Andrew Griffin9 October 2019 17:11
Andrew Griffin9 October 2019 17:13

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