German prosecutor says synagogue shooter planned Yom Kippur ‘massacre’

A German prosecutor says the suspect in the attack in the German city of Halle wanted to carry out a “massacre” in a synagogue and had about four kilograms (nearly nine pounds) of explosives in his car.

Germany’s chief federal prosecutor Peter Frank says that many questions remain about the suspect who is now in custody, a German citizen identified by media as Stephan Balliet.

Investigators still have to determine how he got hold of the material to build homemade weapons and explosives and whether anyone knew of his plans.

Frank told reporters in Karlsruhe that “what we experienced yesterday was terror.” He says that the suspect wanted to create a “worldwide effect” by livestreaming his attack, in which two people were killed outside the synagogue. He wanted to encourage others to imitate him.

Balliet is suspected of two counts of murder and nine of attempted murder.

— AP