Is ISIS Behind the Viernheim Kinopolis Movie Theater Shooting?
German police have surrounded a cinema in the town of Viernheim, Germany, around 45 miles south of Frankfurt. The shooting began at around 3 p.m. local time, around 9 a.m. Eastern time.
Bild reports that the suspect is “disguised,” armed and is “wearing a cartridge belt around his shoulder.”
An eyewitness told Bild that the attacker was speaking in “broken German language.”
The Frankfurter Allgemeine reports that the nearby Darmstadt hospital is in emergency mode.The Darmstadt Echo reports that up to 50 people have been injured, possibly through tear gas.
Sky News reports that Germany’s “elite police force”, the SEK, are on scene at the shooting.
Just before 11 a.m. Eastern, German media source began reporting that the suspect had been shot dead.
Is the suspect with the Islamic State or inspired by it?
As of now, it is unknown if the attack is ISIS-related. There is no talk about it on ISIS terrorist channels yet and no hashtag of “Viernheim_Is_Burning” has surfaced on Twitter.
ISIS sympathizers commonly use the “burning” hashtag, such as last week with “#OrlandoIsBurning” or “Orlando_Is_Burning.” The hashtag, which has been used by ISIS since the Paris attacks with “ParisIsBurning,” has been used in ever terrorist attack by them since, including “San_Bernardino_Is_Burning” and “Brussels_Is_Burning.”
Suicide Belt, Grenades Found Near German Movie Theater Attacker's Dead Body
From: sputniknews.com
A suicide belt and grenades were found by German police next to the body of a gunman who attacked a movie threater in western Germany earlier in the day, Bild newspaper reported.
The attack took place shortly after 3 p.m. local time (13:00 GMT) when the man entered the Kinopolis cinema at the Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum shopping center and opened fire. Nobody was injured in the shooting.
Earlier in the day, Darmstadt police spokesman said that the gunman had no Islamist background.
Prosecutor’s office and police of the German federal state of Hessen launched an investigation into Thursday's shooting in the town of Viernheim, South Hessen police said in a statement.
“In the late afternoon of June 23, 2016, an unknown man was shot dead by police special units in a cinema in Viernheim. Earlier, he entered the cinema being armed and in a mask. A high level of threat has been declared. Motives as well as background of the attack remain unknown. Prosecutor’s office and local criminal police department have launched the investigation,” police said in a statement.
