At least 2 people killed in a shooting outside a German synagogue
At least two people are dead after a gunman reportedly opened fire near a synagogue in eastern Germany.
Police in the German city of Halle said Wednesday that "several shots were fired" and "the suspected perpetrators fled in a vehicle," The New York Times reports.
One suspect is now in custody, and several injuries have been reported, CNN reports. One person was killed on the street near the synagogue, while another was killed in a kebab restaurant, The Wall Street Journal reports. A German newspaper reports a suspect threw a grenade into the synagogue’s cemetery, The Washington Post reports, but police have not confirmed that explosives were used.
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A witness told CNN they saw a man wearing army clothing and a steel helmet with what seemed to be a machine gun, with video apparently of the gunman being posted on social media. Additional information about the shooting and the detained suspect is not yet available, but Halle police say the are currently "investigating" and "stabilizing the situation."
Police haven't provided information about the target of the attack, The Associated Press notes, but it comes on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. Last year, anti-Semitic crime rose nearly 20 percent in Germany, Reuters reports. Germany's federal prosecutor is investigating the shooting, the Times reports, writing this is "a step indicating that the authorities were treating the attack as politically motivated."
