Two More Deviations From the Hanau Narrative

Below are two new wrinkles to the story about the massacre at two shisha bars in the German city of Hanau.

The first video doesn’t question the core assumption — that the mentally ill “racist” Tobias Rathjen committed the murders — but reports a surprising twist: the alleged shooter’s father, a would-be Green politician, may have been complicit in the crime through his influence on his son’s opinions about migrants.

Many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

The second video is in Turkish, and is evidently from a news report on Turkish TV. It features an eyewitness who avers that the man he saw shooting up one of the businesses was definitely NOT Tobias Rathjen.

Many thanks to Luke Montgomery for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript #1:

00:00   Father of suspected shooter under investigation
00:03   Following the racially-motivated terror attack in Hanau, Germany, the father of the perpetrator
00:07   is now under investigation. He is suspected of influencing his son. The 43-year-old German
00:14   is responsible for the bloodbath last Wednesday, shooting nine,
00:18   including his mother and himself in their apartment.
00:22   The shock and anger still run deep days after the attack.
00:25   Approximately 3,000 people, including family members
00:28   of the victims, demonstrated today in Hanau
00:32   against right-wing extremism. Yesterday evening hundreds
00:36   gathered at the scene of the crime to demonstrate. —We see how people who wear head coverings,
00:40   people with black hair, people that are black or people who wear a kippah become targets.
00:45   Now the father of the perpetrator
00:49   Is suspected of having influenced his son.
00:52   A former friend of the perpetrator said, according to The BILD,
00:56   that the 72-year-old had forbidden him from making friendships
01:00   with migrants while he was still in school.
01:03   Another remarkable factor in this context is that the 72-year-old
01:07   was a non-party candidate for The Green party
01:11   nine years ago in Hanau, but he wasn’t successful.
01:15   The man had an arrest record for slander and extortion, among other things.
01:19   His mentally ill son shot nine people with migration backgrounds
01:22   in two different locations in Hanau Wednesday.
01:25   At home he shot his mother and himself.
01:28   His father is said to have sat for hours next to both corpses
01:32   until the police stormed their home.
 

Video transcript #2:

00:00   My name is Özkan Rütfi. I am the owner of the shop on the other side.
00:05   When the incident took place, we were at a friend’s door in front of my shop
00:12   My brother-in-law was working across the street at the Iddia shop
00:16   where it says Tirfin.
00:19   The hookah bar called Midnight belonged to a brother of mine.
00:23   He was a friend I really liked, who passed away. It was Sedattin’s shop.
00:27   Yes. so… What did you see? What happened that evening, that night?
00:33   I swear: We were in front of the door. While we were standing at the door with Fatih,
00:38   while we were talking, suddenly we heard the first gunshots.
00:42   After that we realized that something was happening over there
00:48   We are no strangers to this shop, of course.
00:52   We wanted to get involved. We ran across the street.
00:56   As I said, my brother-in-law was working there.
01:00   Because, of course, we knew the young people there and the owner Sedat.
01:04   It all happened in seconds.
01:08   When we arrived and went inside, Sedat had already
01:12   been shot inside.
01:16   He was on the floor. We went around the side
01:20   where Tirfin is. Everyone was in shock.
01:24   My brother-in-law was in shock. He couldn’t even speak. After that, of course, while we were there,
01:28   while the man was running away,
01:32   running down this way, we saw his back.
01:36   I want to say this too: Right now, the person that they are showing in Germany,
01:40   the individual that they are showing on television
01:44   is definitely not the same person that we saw.
01:47   I mean, I am absolutely certain.
01:51   I saw him myself, even though I didn’t see his face.
01:55   The hood of his jacket was down.
01:59   so it was clear from his hair, etc. that the person here was definitely
02:03   not the person they are showing.
02:06   It was not the man who shot at our friend and brothers.