Terror in GermanyWhat We Know about the Gunman

The following is based on reports in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel, and Die Zeit.

Tobias R., the 43-year old gunman who killed nine people in two shisha bars in the city of Hanau, was active online with his own website and a YouTube channel. He also uploaded several documents to this website, including a letter, created on 20 January, which he sent as “Message to the entire German people.”

The letter does not specifically refer to a violent attack, but the wording and the tone of the letter indicate that he saw it as a “farewell” letter and that he did not expect to live much longer.

The gunman also uploaded a 2-minute video to Youtube on 14 February, in which he repeats conspiracy theories about secret underground military bases which are controlled by foreigners; warns of “mainstream media” as hostile to the true interests of the people, and calls for a people’s struggle against a corrupt elite. The 2-minute video is the only clip on his Youtube channel, and the video gives his full name.

The video stayed online for several hours after the attack, but has been removed by Google early Thursday. During the hours after the attack, the video had been viewed more than a thousand times and commented on hundreds of times.

Hundreds of supporters of the attacks downloaded the video before it was removed, and posted it to their own channels – but Google has removed all these copies within two hours after removing the original.

Google says that the offensive video was marked by a digital fingerprint, which will ensure that it cannot be uploaded to the platform.

Copies of the video were also loaded to several Facebook pages sympathetic to the gunman, and to hundreds of Instagram accounts. The videos from Facebook and Instagram were deleted several hours later.

Terrorism experts note that Tobias R.’s staging of his act differs from four earlier far-right terrorist attacks. The gunmen who perpetrated the attacks at Christchurch, Poway, El Paso, and Halle ran a running broadcast their attacks on the Internet. They approached their attacks as if it were computer games and made explicit reference to the subculture of the image boards like 8chan or 4chan.

The experts say that so far, there is no evidence that Tobias R. was embedded in this Chan subculture. His Facebook and YouTube posts do not use the language often used in the forums. Moreover, following the attack, many 8chan and 4chan users have made fun of him, mocking him as a useless failure, because his confused postings, while repeating some far-right conspiracy theories, fail to mention other such theories which are popular among many users of these imageboards. Also, quite a few 8chan users complained that the fact that he did not use a live camera to record and broadcast his attacks would limit his ability to inspire imitators. Others on 8chan complained that the fact that he shot into two crowded restaurants but managed to kill only nine people would make white terrorists look like idiots.

Still, terrorism experts say that there are some similarities between Tobias R. and other far-right terrorists, especially his racism and misogyny. Tobias R. also speaks of having to “completely destroy” certain peoples and is open about his belief that people with white skin are more valuable than others.

He devotes an entire chapter in his Facebook postings to the topic of women. Tobias R. wrote that he had never had a girlfriend in his life, and that he has never married, because “I know that I’m being monitored.”

Police analyst who have read his Facebook “manifesto” say that the delusion of persecution and the fear of surveillance are recurring themes which run through the 24 pages document. Tobias R. appears to be obsessed with the idea that an unknown, all-knowing secret service is not only spying on his every move: that secret service can also read his mind.