Police: 8 killed in shootings in German city, suspect dead
A car is covered with thermofoil behind crime tape in Hanau, Germany. Several people were reportedly killed by gunfire in a shooting that took place near a hookah lounge. ((Photo by Boris Roessler/picture alliance via Getty Images))
HANAU, Germany (AP) - At least eight people were killed in shootings in and outside two hookah lounges in southwestern Germany late Wednesday, and police later said the suspect had been found dead at his home.
Police said in a tweet early Thursday that officers found the dead suspect and another body at the same address in the city of Hanau, where the shooting occurred. No details were released on the other person.
Police gave no details of the suspected gunman but said “there are currently no indications of further perpetrators.”
At least five people were wounded in the shootings in and outside two hookah lounges in the southwestern German city late Wednesday.
Police said a dark vehicle was spotted leaving the location of the first attack about 10 p.m. (2100 GMT), and another shooting was reported at a second site.
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.
A short police statement gave no information on the identity or nationality of the victims and said a motive was not immediately known.
News agency dpa reported a total of 11 people were dead but it was not immediately clear if that included the two bodies in the suspect's home.
An earlier report said three people were killed and at least one seriously hurt in central Hanau. At the second site, about 2 1/2 kilometers (1 1/2 miles) away, five people were killed.
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 kilometers (12 miles) east of Frankfurt. It has about 100,000 inhabitants and is in Hesse state.
Police from neighboring Bavaria were deployed to help their local colleagues, dpa reported.