The man accused of killing two people in a gun attack outside a German synagogue on Yom Kippur has admitted to the crime, prosecutors have said.
Stephan Balliet, 27, also accepted his far-right, antisemitic views motivated him to commit the atrocity in the eastern town of Halle.
He gave a detailed account of the incident to a judge at Germany’s federal court of justice on Friday, public broadcaster ARD said.
The gunman published an antisemitic manifesto minutes before beginning the attack outside Halle’s synagogue, which was broadcast live online.
After failing to break through the synagogue’s wooden door, he shot dead a female passerby before driving to nearby Turkish kebab shop, where a man died.
German police have seized evidence from the flat in Halle that he shared with his mother. The items included a 3D printer with which he is believed to have produced the home-made guns that he used in the attack.
The suspect’s mother said in an interview with Der Spiegel that he had experimented with drugs in his early 20s and emerged as a “different person”, having barely survived the experience.
His father told Bild that his son was a “friendless figure” who lived his life online and blamed others for his own failings.
“He wasn’t at ease with himself or the world, always blaming others,” he said.
