A gunman who shot three worshippers at a mosque in Zurich on Monday evening was a 24-year-old Swiss man with Ghanaian roots and no apparent links to Islamist radicalism, police have said. The gunman had stormed into the Islamic center and opened fire on worshippers. He burst into the prayer hall in an Islamic Centre near Zurich main train station at around 5.30pm on Monday and began shooting, injuring three people— aged 30, 35 and 56.
He then escaped in the direction of the train station.
“The dead man found around 300 metres (yards) from the scene of the crime after the shooting in the mosque is the suspect,”
-a statement on a police website said.
A search of the suspect’s home revealed objects related to occult phenomena. Nothing suggests the man had any connection with the place of prayer he attacked, however, he appears to have known the man he murdered in the playground. The suspect, who worked as a salesperson, and owned a licensed firearm, was fired from his job on Friday. DNA collected from the park murder victim was matched to DNA collected from the killer seven years earlier when he was caught by the police stealing a bike. This allowed him to be identified and linked to the murder, said the police.
Onder Gunes, a spokesman for the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland, said before the shooter’s background became known:
“All Muslims are of course shocked that people praying came under fire.
“This would be equally shocking if done by a Muslim, Christians, Hindus or any other religious group. We all have to stand together for peace. This cannot be allowed to escalate.”
