German official slams online 'incitement' after mask killing
ABC News
Germany’s health minister has partly blamed “incitement” against the government’s pandemic rules on social media for the killing of a gas station clerk by a man who refused to wear a face mask
BERLIN -- Germany's health minister on Wednesday partly blamed “incitement” against the government's pandemic rules on social media for the killing of a gas station clerk by a man who refused to wear a face mask.
A 49-year-old German man was arrested Sunday over the the fatal shooting a day earlier in the western town of Idar-Oberstein. Authorities said the suspect told officers he rejected the measures against the coronavirus.”
“It was a cold-blooded murder,” Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin, noting that the suspect had initially gone home after being refused service for failing to wear a mask, only to return later and shoot the clerk in the head.
“The question is, what is the environment, what are the circumstances in which such a crime can occur?” he asked. “This has a lot to do with the incitement, the hatred, that is posted on social media."
