A Romanian man was among nine people who were shot dead in Germany in a suspected far-right attack, authorities said.
A German man went on a rampage on Wednesday evening that started in a shisha bar frequented by immigrants in the town of Hanau near Frankfurt.
The German had posted an online rant calling for the “complete extermination” of many “races or cultures in our midst,” authorities said Thursday.
Five Turks, ethnic Kurds and people with backgrounds from Bulgaria, Romania and Bosnia were also killed, according to news reports.
Marian Patuleanu, mayor of Sangoreni in southern Romania, said Vili Viorel Paun a 23-year-old man from the village, who was also his nephew, had been shot dead as he was about to get out of his car after work to get something to drink.
“He didn’t even manage to get out of the car …. and when that jerk who shot the others, saw him, he thought he was talking on the phone, who knows, and he shot him,” Patuleanu said.
Patuleanu said he moved there 7-8 years ago, adding he’d spoken to his parents who work in at a supermarket in Hanau.
“They are in a state of shock,” he said.
The gunman, Tobias Rathjen, 43, was found dead at his home along with his mother. Authorities said they were treating the rampage as an act of domestic terrorism.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attack exposed the “poison” of racism in the country.
Eathjen opened fire at the hookah bar and a neighboring cafe in the Frankfurt suburb of Hanau late Wednesday and then and fired on a car and a sports bar.
In addition to the dead, six people were injured, one seriously, authorities said.
The town is a longtime immigrant destination with decades of coexistence between people of different origins.
