Hiiraan Online
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Copenhagen (HOL) - Three Somali men were wounded in a shooting at a mosque after a gunman clad in all black burst into a prayer hall and gunned down unsuspecting worshippers before fleeing, according to police and witnesses.
Ambulance and police descended on the busy Zurich street and transported the victims to hospital while launching a manhunt for the shooter.
"The unknown person fired several shots and fled from the building," police spokesman Marco Bisa told reporters near the mosque, which was cordoned off by police. "The shooting took place inside a prayer room with several people in it. Two victims were severely injured."
He also added that the hospitalized where aged 30, 35 and 36.
Among those wounded was the Islamic Centre's Imam, Sheikh Mustafa Ali Khalif who was shot in his lower body. The other two victims have been identified as Abdikarim Osman (Jubba) and another man named Farah. They both underwent surgery last night and are in the intensive care unit. Doctors are optimistic that all three will make a recovery.
The Islamic Centre on Eisgasse has been at its present location since 2012. It is frequented by a large number of Somali immigrants but is also host to Eritrean and North African worshippers. At the time of the shooting, there were a dozen congregates who were there for Maghrib prayers.
Mustafa Bashir Gobdon, head of a network called the Somali-Swiss Diaspora has been living in Switzerland since 1988 and prays at the Islamic Centre regularly. He told HOL that he never heard of an attack targeting Muslims at Mosques.
"I've been worshipping at the mosque for years, there has never been any violent incidents at all. We come, we pray, we leave. We're members of the community and for something like this to happen is shocking and heartbreaking."
Body found beneath a bridge
Witnesses on the scene described the shooter as a man in his 30's, dressed in all black complete with a black wool cap, and fleeing on foot towards Zurich Central Station immediately after the attack.
Not long after the shooting, police were investigating a dead body that was discovered beneath the Gessner Bridge located just 300m from the Islamic Centre.
Swiss police officers hold a blanket to cover a dead body found near a Muslim prayer hall, central Zurich, on December 19, 2016, AFP / MICHAEL BUHOLZER
An AFP photo shows what appears to be a lifeless body with a handgun on the floor next to it. The wall surrounding the body is blood-stained. A scene that suggests the body found was a suicide victim.
A photo taken from another angle does show that the individual who was found under the bridge was coincidentally wearing all dark attire as well.
A brightly lit tent was visible where the body the was found, obscuring the crime scene from curious onlookers. Police had blocked off an alleyway close to the Islamic Centre as well. It was not initially clear whether the dead person was the perpetrator, as speculated by journalists and witnesses on the scene.
UPDATE: Gunman found dead
The man who shot and wounded 3 Somali Men at a Zurich mosque on Monday is dead, according to a police statement released Tuesday morning. Police confirmed that the body found by the nearby Gessner Bridge to be the shooter. He died of self inflicted gunshot wounds.
The name of the gunman has not been released but Police said that he is a 24 year old Swiss citizen from nearby Uster with Ghanian roots. It is not yet known what motivated him to carry out this attack but police believe it was not linked to radical Islam. According to Christiane Lentjes Meili, the lead criminal investigator on the case, he may have been motivated by superstitious beliefs after taking an interest in occult sciences. She has not ruled out mental illness as a factor in the shooting.
Investigators believe that he killed a South American man and dumping his body in a park before the shooting rampage at the Islamic Centre.
"The dead man found around 300 meters (yards) from the scene of the crime after the shooting in the mosque is the suspect," a statement on a police website said.
The firearm that was used in the shooting is said to have been lawfully obtained by the assailant. Switzerland has among the highest gun ownership rates in the world.
Police had previously refused to comment on whether the body found beneath the bridge was linked to the Islamic Centre shooting.