A gunman suspected of attacking a German synagogue and killing two people nearby wanted to commit a massacre and incite others by livestreaming his deadly rampage, Germany's federal prosecutor said on Thursday.
The man, Stephan B., modeled Wednesday's attack on a shooting spree at New Zealand mosques earlier this year in which 51 people were killed. He wanted to kill as many people as possible in the synagogue in the eastern city of Halle, the prosecutor said.
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Dozens of people were at the synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, when the gunman tried to blast his way in – only to fail to breach the solidly locked gates.
"What we experienced yesterday was terrorism. According to our findings, the suspect Stephan B. aimed to carry out a massacre," federal prosecutor Peter Frank told reporters.
"Stephan B., a man who was influenced by scary anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism, was heavily armed," Frank added. "He armed himself with many weapons, some possibly self-made, and had a large quantity of explosives."
Investigators found 4 kilograms of explosives in his car.
In a video of more than 30 minutes that the attacker livestreamed from a helmet camera, he was heard cursing his failure to enter the synagogue before shooting dead a woman passerby in the street and a man in a nearby kebab restaurant.
Two other people were injured but not critically.
"Stephan B. wanted to be copycat in two senses," said Frank. "He wanted to mimic similar acts that happened in the past, and he also wanted to incite others to copycat his acts."
Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said right-wing extremism "is one of the biggest threats facing us." She vowed to get tougher on online platforms if they carry threats or material that incites hatred.
