Casepin
Back to cases

Case file

Hanau shootings

SOLVED2020Hanau, Hesse, Germany3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
Illustrative

On the night of 19 February 2020, a gunman carried out a shooting spree at two locations in Hanau, a city near Frankfurt in the German state of Hesse, killing nine people and wounding five others before killing his mother and himself. German officials, including the Minister of Internal Affairs, described the attack as an act of terrorism.

The shootings began at about 21:55 CET in central Hanau, where the gunman fired on La Votre Bar and the neighboring Midnight Bar on Heumarkt, killing three people. He also confronted a man outside a nearby kiosk, repeatedly asking whether he was a foreigner, before running off. As the gunman drove away, Vili Viorel Păun, whose car had been fired on, pursued him and made repeated unsuccessful attempts to reach police by phone. The gunman then drove roughly 2.5 kilometers to the Kesselstadt district, where he shot and killed Păun outside the Arena Bar & Café, then killed three more people in an adjacent kiosk and two others inside the bar itself, wounding three more. A later reconstruction by the research group Forensic Architecture found that patrons trapped inside the bar could have escaped if an emergency exit had not been locked.

After the shootings, the gunman drove to his family's home near the Arena Bar, fatally shot his mother, Gabriele Rathjen, 72, and then killed himself. Police entered the home at 05:15 the next morning and found both bodies. His father, who was also in the home, was unharmed.

The nine people killed in the two shootings were identified as Gökhan Gültekin, 37; Ferhat Unvar, 23; Mercedes Kierpacz, 35; and Said Nesar Hashemi, 21, all German nationals; Sedat Gürbüz, 29, and Fatih Saraçoğlu, 34, both Turkish nationals; Hamza Kurtović, 22, a Bosnian national; Kaloyan Velkov, 33, a Bulgarian national; and Vili Viorel Păun, 22, a Romanian national. Velkov and Păun were both members of Romani communities in their home countries. Among the five people wounded were two Turkish-Germans, an Afghan-German, and a Cameroonian-German. One of those wounded, Ibrahim Akkuş, died on 10 January 2026 at age 70 from complications related to his injuries.

Federal prosecutors treated the attack as terrorism and cited evidence of a far-right, xenophobic motive. The gunman had published a racist manifesto online calling for mass violence against people from a list of world regions and had recorded videos describing his beliefs. Three months before the attack, he had sent a 19-page letter to Germany's Federal Public Prosecutor General describing a conspiracy theory about a secret organization; authorities took no action in response.

The attack prompted large public gatherings, including a march by about 10,000 people in Hanau on 23 February 2020, and led the United Kingdom to proscribe two neo-Nazi organizations, Sonnenkrieg Division and System Resistance Network, as terrorist groups. German officials, including Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, publicly condemned the attack, and memorial events were held in Hanau and other German cities on the first anniversary of the attack in February 2021.

Key facts

Victims
Fatih Saraçoğlu, Gabriele Rathjen, Ferhat Unvar, Kaloyan Velkov, Mercedes Kierpacz, Gökhan Gültekin, Said Nesar Hashemi, Vili Viorel Păun, Hamza Kurtović, Ibrahim Akkuş, Sedat Gürbüz
Date
2020
Location
Hanau, Hesse, Germany
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 2019-11-06

    The gunman sent a 19-page letter to Germany's Federal Public Prosecutor General describing a conspiracy theory about a 'secret service' organization; German authorities took no action in response.

  2. 2020-02-19

    Beginning at about 21:55 CET, the gunman fired shots at La Votre Bar and the Midnight Bar on Heumarkt in central Hanau, killing three people.

  3. 2020-02-19

    The gunman drove about 2.5 km to the Kesselstadt district and killed six more people, including Vili Viorel Păun, at a kiosk and the Arena Bar & Café, wounding three others.

  4. 2020-02-19

    After the shootings, the gunman returned to his family's home near the Arena Bar, fatally shot his mother, and then killed himself.

  5. 2020-02-20

    Police entered the gunman's home at 05:15 and found the bodies of the gunman and his mother.

  6. 2020-02-23

    About 10,000 people marched through Hanau in a show of unity and support for the victims.

  7. 2020-02-24

    The United Kingdom proscribed the neo-Nazi groups Sonnenkrieg Division and System Resistance Network as terrorist organizations, citing the Hanau attack.

  8. 2021-02-19

    On the first anniversary of the attack, memorial services and rallies were held in cities across Germany, including a ceremony in Hanau attended by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

  9. 2026-01-10

    Ibrahim Akkuş, who had been wounded in the attack, died at age 70 from complications related to his injuries.

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • Fatih Saraçoğlu

    VICTIM

    Turkish national, age 34; killed in the Hanau shootings on 19 February 2020.

  • Gabriele Rathjen

    VICTIM

    Age 72; the gunman's mother, fatally shot at the family's home after the bar shootings on 19 February 2020.

  • Ferhat Unvar

    VICTIM

    German national, age 23; killed in the Hanau shootings on 19 February 2020.

  • Kaloyan Velkov

    VICTIM

    Bulgarian national, age 33, and member of the Romani community; killed in the Hanau shootings on 19 February 2020.

  • Mercedes Kierpacz

    VICTIM

    German national, age 35; killed in the Hanau shootings on 19 February 2020.

  • Gökhan Gültekin

    VICTIM

    German national, age 37; killed in the Hanau shootings on 19 February 2020.

  • Said Nesar Hashemi

    VICTIM

    German national, age 21; killed in the Hanau shootings on 19 February 2020.

  • Vili Viorel Păun

    VICTIM

    Romanian national, age 22, and member of the Romani community; pursued the gunman's car and repeatedly tried to reach police by phone before being killed outside the Arena Bar & Café on 19 February 2020.

  • Hamza Kurtović

    VICTIM

    Bosnian national, age 22; killed in the Hanau shootings on 19 February 2020.

  • Ibrahim Akkuş

    VICTIM

    Wounded in the Hanau shootings on 19 February 2020; died on 10 January 2026 at age 70 from complications related to his injuries.

  • Sedat Gürbüz

    VICTIM

    Turkish national, age 29; killed in the Hanau shootings on 19 February 2020.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Places

Hanau, Hesse, Germany

50.1331, 8.9133

View on the map

Common questions

What happened to the victim?
On 19 February 2020, a gunman shot and killed nine people at bars and a kiosk in Hanau, Germany, in an attack German officials called terrorism, then killed his mother and himself; five others were wounded.
Where did the shootings happen?
Hanau, Hesse, Germany.
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.
More cases in Germany

Sources

  1. ENCYCLOPEDICHanau shootingsWikipedia · 2026-07-12
  2. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — The GuardianThe Guardian · 2026-07-12
  3. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — BBC NewsBBC News · 2026-07-12

Record history

First published
JUL 13, 2026