HANAU, Germany 鈥� Piter Minnemann and his friends were eating when they heard shots fired outside the door of the snack bar in Hanau where they had gathered.
Minnemann, 18, recalled that he had just got his pizza when the first shots were heard at the Arena Bar. It was the second site targeted in Wednesday night's shooting of nine people by a German man who had posted an online rant calling for the 鈥渃omplete extermination鈥� of many 鈥渞aces or cultures in our midst."
鈥淲e thought it was a blank gun or something. We thought nothing of it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hen the man came in, he fired.鈥�
The gunman shot two people before coming into the bar, where 鈥渉e aimed right at us 鈥� he shot the first one in the head,鈥� Minnemann said.
A pregnant woman jumped out of the window, he said.
鈥淗e came, fired, emptied his magazine, then everything was quiet, then he walked out normally," he recalled. 鈥淚 opened my eyes, I saw that I was alive, I was happy. I asked if people were OK but Edris 鈥� I don't know if he's still alive but I think he survived 鈥� he had a hole in his throat and he said, 鈥業鈥檝e been hit, I鈥檝e been hit,' my other friend Momo was hit in the shoulder.鈥�
In all, Hanau native Minnemann said he lost four or five 鈥渇riends I have known for years.鈥�
He spoke to The Associated Press next to a statue of the Brothers Grimm, the collectors of folk and fairy-tales who hailed from Hanau, in the town's main square. That memorial is now festooned with flowers and candles in memory of Wednesday night's victims.
鈥淚 still can't believe it, in some situations it's as if nothing happened, but when I see the people crying, when I see this, then it becomes true again, ... then you see that it is real," he said. 鈥淏ut otherwise, I can't believe that this happened to us, us of all people, in the very place where we are every day, where we chill out every day.鈥�
鈥淚 thought it was some kind of gang stuff at first,鈥� Minnemann said. He recalled that there were 12 or 13 people at the scene at the time of the shooting. Many others died, he said 鈥� 鈥淚 was very lucky.鈥�
Another witness of the shooting at the Arena Bar told Turkey's Haber television that he and his friends heard five or six shots outside before the gunman entered.
鈥淗e shot the first people he saw in the head. A man fell to the floor,鈥滿uhammed Beyazkender, who was lying in his hospital bed with a bandaged shoulder, said on Thursday. 鈥淭hen he fired at all of us. I got shot in the arm while I tried to hide behind the wall.鈥�
Beyazkendersaid he lay on the floor on top of someone, and someone then lay on top of him, and someone else then on top of him.
鈥淭here was a kid underneath me with a hole in his throat,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he kid said to me: 鈥榤y brother, I cannot feel my tongue; I cannot breathe.鈥� I said to him, recite the Kalima Shahadat prayer (from the
鈥�-
This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the hospitalized survivor's name. It is Muhammed Beyazkender, not Beyazkender Muhammed.
Christoph Noelting, The Associated Press
