HANAU, Germany (NBC) – Survivors of Wednesday’s mass shootings in the German city of Hanau recounted their harrowing experience.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Muhammad Beyazkindir said he saw people breathing their last breaths as he lay injured on the ground.
The 43-year-old German gunman shot and killed nine people at a hookah bar and a neighboring cafe before he was found dead at his home.
The attacker posted a manifesto calling for the “complete extermination” of many “races or cultures in our midst”.
Survivor Piter Minnemann said he was meeting with friends for dinner at the time of the shooting.
He said his group had originally thought a “blank gun” had been fired and brushed it off. But then the shooter aimed his weapon directly at Piter’s group and killed one of his friends.
The attacker had left a number of texts and videos promoting racist views and claimed to have been under surveillance since birth.
Authorities are treating the rampage as an act of domestic terrorism.
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